US arrest announced in connection with Canada’s Tumbler Ridge school shooting

By Max Saltman, CNN

(CNN) — US authorities have announced the arrest of a 30-year-old from Washington state in connection with the February school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia.

The person, identified by authorities as James Cody Bryant, was arrested in Bellingham, Washington, on Tuesday morning on a charge of conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country, according to an announcement by the US Justice Department. The February attack on a secondary school in the small town of Tumbler Ridge was Canada’s deadliest school shooting in decades, leaving eight people dead and dozens wounded.

Bryant was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday afternoon in Seattle, according to a press release ahead of the announcement. CNN has not yet confirmed whether Bryant has legal representation.

Bryant was allegedly “in repeated contact with” the 18-year-old Canadian shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, “offering advice, sending money and even agreeing to live stream the horrific event” on Twitch, said Neil Floyd, the acting US attorney for the Western District of Washington, at a press conference in Seattle.

The money Bryant gave the shooter amounted to a little over $100, primarily to buy a lighter and a pair of shoes that Van Rootselaar “wanted to have when she conducted this killing spree,” Floyd said. The two discussed sending weapons to Van Rootselaar, but Bryant was uncomfortable with doing so and refused, according to a complaint filed in court on Friday.

Bryant began an online friendship with Van Rootselaar after meeting on video chatting website Omegle three years before the shooting, authorities said. An affidavit within the complaint includes excerpts of chat logs between Bryant and Van Rootselaar on the Discord website.

“I read a lot of court documents, including some that discuss incredibly heinous acts of violence, but this complaint was particularly difficult to read,” said FBI agent Mike Harrington at the Tuesday press conference, “in part because of the casual tone these two individuals used when discussing the mass taking of innocent lives that was being planned.”

In one exchange, Van Rootselaar allegedly told Bryant that she wanted to “avoid doing a school” but that “there’s just so many reasons why it’s ideal.” According to the affidavit, Bryant responded in turn that attacking a hotel “seems like a good idea.”

After Van Rootselaar killed two family members, Bryant allegedly offered the attacker advice on how to fix a car when it failed to start en route to the school.

Canadian and US authorities have said that Bryant and Van Rootselaar, who died in the shooting, are trans women, though officials used male and female pronouns interchangeably to describe the two throughout the press conference.

Assistant Commissioner Elija Rain of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Canadian authorities contacted the US Department of Homeland Security soon after the shooting, based on “information from one of the online platforms used by the shooter.”

“As further alleged, instead of de-escalating or reporting to law enforcement, Bryant continued to enable the shooter over the months they discussed these plans,” said Harrington. “In addition to providing money, technical advice and particular items to be used in the shooting, Bryant agreed to record a live stream feed of the attack and broadcast it in a way that would maximize notoriety for the shooter.”

It was not previously known that anyone apart from Van Rootselaar allegedly participated in planning the massacre.

Seven families of victims sued tech company OpenAI in April after information emerged that the shooter had used ChatGPT to plan the attack. The week before the suit was filed, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman apologized to the community for not alerting law enforcement after Van Rootselaar’s account was banned.

CNN’s Josh Campbell and Paula Newton contributed reporting. This is a developing story and will be updated.

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