A 30-year-old Washington state resident has been charged with helping a teenager who killed eight people in Canada, including schoolchildren, U.S. prosecutors announced Tuesday.
James Cody Bryant, who the FBI said identifies as a woman, was arrested Tuesday and is charged with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country in connection with the Feb. 10 shooting in the British Columbia town of Tumbler Ridge, officials said.
Prosecutors said Bryant had been in contact on Discord with the shooter, who killed five children and a teacher at a high school, as well as two other people. He gave the shooter advice and money and offered to help him livestream the killings, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Bryant “had been in repeated contact” with the shooter, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington Neil Floyd said at a news conference Tuesday.
Bryant “had the information and ability to alert law enforcement, and even discussed the possibility with the shooter — but chose not to,” Floyd said. “Instead, he encouraged and offered assistance to a murderer.”
On Feb. 10, around 2 p.m., Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, born male but transitioning to female for six years, killed his mother and 11-year-old half-brother in the small town of Tumbler Ridge, officials said.
She then went to Tumbler Ridge High School and killed five children — three 12-year-old girls and two boys, one 12 and the other 13 — as well as a teacher, authorities said. Van Rootselaar then committed suicide.
The rampage was one of the deadliest shootings in Canadian history. In addition to those killed, two other children were seriously injured by gunfire, authorities said.
Bryant repeatedly tried to talk Van Rootselaar out of the attack or get her to reconsider, but did not tell law enforcement about his plan and offered to livestream it, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
The two men met on the now-defunct random video chat service Omegle about three years before the shooting and stayed in touch through Discord, an online communications service, said W. Mike Herrington, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle office.
There is no indication the two met in person, he said.
The messages exchanged on Discord cited in the complaint have a conversational and friendly tone. At one point, Bryant writes, “You believe me when I promise I won’t report you, right?” At another point, Bryant told Van Rootselaar, “If you’re not sure, maybe take it as a sign.”
On the day of the shooting, after Van Rootselaar killed her mother and half-brother, she was having trouble starting her car, Floyd said.
“Bryant provided advice and offered assistance on how to start the car so JVR could drive to the school and kill children,” Floyd said, using the initials of the shooter’s name.
The charge of conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country is punishable by life in prison.
Bryant was in custody Tuesday, officials said. Online federal court records did not show an attorney representing Bryant as of Tuesday afternoon.
The shooting was streamed live on Twitch, but only for about 20 seconds before stopping, officials said.
Twitch said an account appearing to be Bryant’s was the only one that saw it, according to the criminal complaint.
The FBI’s Herrington said the shooter wanted maximum views but wasn’t much of a social media presence.
“Without Bryant’s misplaced loyalty and willingness to exploit the live stream, we ultimately do not know whether the shooter would have committed the crime,” Herrington said. “We certainly know that the shooter was concerned that few people would see the livestream.”
Elija Rain, assistant commissioner of British Columbia’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said the impact of the shooting was widespread.
“The residents of Tumbler Ridge experienced a tragedy that forever changed the lives of families, friends, students, educators, first responders and the entire community,” he said.
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