Federal agents arrested James Cody Bryant in Bellingham early Tuesday and charged him with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country, alleging he helped an 18-year-old carry out a Feb. 10 attack at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia.
Canadian authorities say the attack killed eight people, including five students, an educator, the shooter’s mother, and the shooter’s 11-year-old stepbrother. The shooter, identified as Jesse Van Rootselaar, was found dead inside the school from an apparent self-inflicted injury.
Fox News reported that U.S. and Canadian officials outlined the case at a Seattle news conference, casting Bryant as a remote enabler who sent money, offered advice, agreed to livestream the attack, and helped the shooter keep moving after the killings had already begun.
FBI Seattle Special Agent in Charge W. Mike Herrington said Bryant and Van Rootselaar both identified as transgender, and that Bryant identifies as female. Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said investigators had no information pointing to a political ideology or group affiliation.
Prosecutors allege Bryant met Van Rootselaar through random pairing on Omegle roughly three years before the attack. Herrington said their online contact later turned into discussions of violence over at least six months.
Federal officials say Bryant sent money, offered advice, and agreed to broadcast the attack. Floyd said alleged financial help included a little more than $100 for shoes. An attempted transfer of roughly $15 for a lighter was reversed.
Officials also say the pair discussed sending weapons to Canada, though Bryant was uncomfortable doing that. Herrington said investigators had no indication the guns used in the attack came from the United States.
Floyd told reporters the planned publicity push mattered to the shooter. An attempted Twitch livestream lasted about 20 seconds before shutting down.
Herrington said the shooter worried too few people would see the stream without help and relied on Bryant to amplify it because the shooter did not have many social media followers. He also said Bryant stayed awake after an overnight work shift to make sure the attack could be widely viewed online.
The most serious allegation is not only planning talk. Officials say Bryant kept helping after blood had already been shed.
Herrington described the sequence in blunt terms at the Seattle news conference.
"So even after the shooter had already tragically killed two family members, Bryant assisted the shooter in successfully traveling to the second location to take even more lives."
Prosecutors allege that help included assisting the shooter in starting a car so he could reach the school. Herrington said the federal complaint captures Bryant acknowledging how close he was to the center of the plot.
"In the complaint, Bryant even admits to being maybe the only one who could stop the shooter."
Floyd said Bryant had a clear off-ramp and refused to take it.
"Bryant had the information and ability to alert law enforcement, and even discussed that possibility with the shooter, but he chose not to."
Floyd added a second line that left little room for soft language about bystanders.
"Instead, he encouraged and offered assistance to a murderer."
Bryant, 30, was arrested Tuesday morning in Bellingham, north of Seattle. He faces a federal charge of conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country in the Western District of Washington.
Just The News also reported the arrest and charge, quoting Floyd on the gravity of a Western Washington resident giving counsel, technical advice, and money to a shooter planning the attack.
Floyd said at the news conference it was “even more profoundly disturbing to learn that a resident of Western Washington had a role in the attack and took steps, providing counsel, technical advice, and money to the shooter planning such a tragedy.”
British Columbia RCMP Assistant Commissioner Elija Rain said the investigation crossed the border within days of the Feb. 10 attack. Canadian police received information from an online platform used by the shooter and contacted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Floyd said investigators obtained subpoenas and warrants and reviewed thousands of communications, many of them on Discord. Rain said Canadian investigators have reviewed more than 90 statements from students, educators, and first responders and continue examining other online contacts.
Rain said Canada’s case is not closed.
"Our RCMP criminal investigation remains ongoing and the possibility of further charges being pursued in Canada remains under active consideration."
Herrington said investigators have no indication what the pair’s transgender identities meant to the relationship, why they stayed in contact, or whether they ever met in person. Officials also have not said whether Van Rootselaar would have carried out the attack without Bryant’s willingness to run the livestream.
Herrington said the tone of the messages made the file hard to read because the two discussed planned mass killing in casual terms. He said the shooter had a keen focus on notoriety, and that the pair talked about other mass shootings and a desire for similar attention.
Authorities have not publicly released the full complaint text, docket details, or verbatim chat logs beyond the summaries given Tuesday. They have not released public results on who, if anyone, saw the brief Twitch stream, or what specific advice Bryant allegedly gave.
FBI officials used the case to draw a bright line for online enablers. Presence at the scene, they said, is not the test.
"If you think you are safe from prosecution because you did not pull the trigger, or were not physically present at the scene of the crime, think again."
Herrington said the Bureau and its partners will use the investigative tools available to pursue people who enable or assist mass violence. In this file, that claim rests on money, advice, livestream plans, alleged car-start help, and a choice not to call police when the chance was there.
Bryant remains an accused defendant, not a convicted one. The federal charge now moves through the U.S. courts while Canadian investigators keep working the Tumbler Ridge deaths and weigh more charges of their own.
When killers seek an audience, the people who fund, coach, and broadcast them are not spectators. Law enforcement just showed it will treat them as part of the act.
