Several weeks before an attack that left eight people dead, Jesse Van Rootselaar sent an online contact a message that now appears chillingly prophetic.
“I need attention before I die,” the 18-year-old transgender shooter allegedly wrote ahead of the February 10, 2026, rampage in Tumbler Ridge, a remote town in British Columbia’s Canadian Rockies.
Van Rootselaar and the online acquaintance had reportedly been communicating for about three years before she killed her mother and stepbrother at their home in the mountain community.
Police say she then went to her former school, where she fatally shot a teacher and five students before taking her own life.
According to allegations, the pair discussed their plans in detail, exchanged images of homemade explosives and weapons marked with transgender symbols, and considered ways to cause as many deaths as possible.
The FBI has described the online contact as a direct accomplice and identified the suspect last week as James Cody Bryant, 30, of Bellingham, Washington.
Bryant, who is also transgender, appeared in federal court in Seattle on Tuesday afternoon. The US Department of Justice said Bryant faces a conspiracy charge related to murdering people in a foreign country.
A conviction could result in a life sentence. Bryant has not entered a plea, and no publicly listed attorney has been identified as representing them.
Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, allegedly opened fire inside the library at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia on February 10, killing a teacher and five students
James “Cody” Bryant, 30, of Bellingham, Washington, was arrested Tuesday after federal prosecutors alleged extensive online communication with Jesse Van Rootselaar before the February 10 attack
In Florida, Bryant’s relatives are struggling to understand how someone they viewed as having “a lot of potential” could allegedly become connected to such a devastating crime.
“I don’t know how it could have gone this wrong with him or her,” Bryant’s 23-year-old sister, Caitlin Bryant, told Our News Outlet from Tampa.
Bryant grew up in Florida and lived with family members there before relocating to Washington state in 2021. The only return visit Caitlin recalls was for their mother’s wedding that August.
Caitlin said she once felt closest to her sibling, with the two bonding through video games. But she noticed Bryant becoming increasingly distant, and they have not spoken since mid-2025.
She said she discovered in April 2025 that Bryant had been taking cross-sex hormones for some time, but she had no knowledge of the alleged online conversations or plans.
During the interview, Caitlin alternated between “he” and “she” when referring to Bryant, whom she described as her “brother.”
Caitlin described the alleged plot as “bizarre” and said she had never seen signs that Bryant was becoming radicalized, violent or politically extreme.
The family has not yet determined how it might support Bryant, while Caitlin said she was worried they may not be able to afford the costs involved.
“I personally would love to go over there to at least see him one last time, but I don’t know if that’s going to be possible,” she said.
Caitlin said Bryant appeared to disappear from public view after their April 2025 conversation and had no visible social media accounts. Bryant’s Discord and Twitch profiles also appear to have been erased.
But now Bryant’s alleged Discord messages have spilled out in the FBI’s 41-page complaint, which lays bare a twisted chat dominated by anger, suicide, grievance and a hunger for notoriety.
Van Rootselaar had suffered a series of mental health problems, and the chats paint a young person consumed by pain, rage and a craving to be seen.
The complaint says the pair met online around 2023, roughly three years before the attack, and Caitlin noted that Van Rootselaar was still a minor back then.
Van Rootselaar was later hospitalized after being deemed a danger to herself, according to the document, and the pair lost touch for a time.
They reconnected, and investigators say the bond grew more intense in the final months, with Van Rootselaar frequently talking about killing family members and others she believed had mistreated her.
In one chilling exchange, Van Rootselaar discussed earlier Canadian shootings and mused that she could ‘steal that title,’ according to the complaint.
Prosecutors allege Bryant allegedly provided tactical advice, recommended firearms, supplied money for items connected to the planned attack and helped Van Rootselaar test equipment for a livestream that was intended to broadcast the massacre
The FBI released transcripts of the alleged dark chain of messages between Bryant and Van Rootselaar
Bryant at one point in the thread praised Van Rootselaar for her ‘solid plans’ for a mass killing
Bryant replied with advice on how to kill more people, and about three days later suggested they ‘find a way to delete’ their messages.
The document says Bryant ‘knowingly and wilfully’ conspired with Van Rootselaar from August 2025 or earlier, a stretch of up to six months before the shooting.
The messages suggest a close, emotionally supportive bond, and the pair seemingly discussed Van Rootselaar’s personal grievances far more than any violent transgender ideology.
Over several months, they talked about weapons, blue, pink and white trans stickers to decorate them with, shoes to wear on the day and the money Bryant was providing.
Van Rootselaar wanted the world to watch and asked Bryant to record and broadcast the attack live, the complaint says.
Bryant told investigators that running the livestream was meant to ‘placate’ Van Rootselaar, yet admitted testing the equipment and, on August 30, allegedly wrote that the test stream ‘looks solid.’
‘If I don’t livestream it people can be detached from the gravity of how I feel. It’s just another headline,’ Van Rootselaar allegedly wrote to Bryant.
She added: ‘I need people to see it and personally witness the lives be impacted,’ a demand Bryant allegedly agreed to meet.
The day before the attack, Bryant allegedly claimed to have adjusted to a different sleep schedule to be able to help run the livestream, the complaint shows.
Van Rootselaar had sent Bryant a photo of the fully assembled explosive device, which the FBI says was deployed during the attack.
According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, Bryant and Van Rootselaar began communicating through Discord by August 2025 about a plan to kill multiple people in Canada
He also allegedly advised her on concealing the plot, including deleting messages and using virtual private networks to hide online activity as well as advising her on constructing a makeshift explosive device
At some points, Bryant appeared to be trying to talk Van Rootselaar out of killing innocents
On the day itself, Van Rootselaar told Bryant she was dressed for the attack and sent photos and video of herself and the weapons she planned to use.
Bryant said the stream was ready to run, and moments later Van Rootselaar announced she had killed her family at home, the complaint says.
When she could not work out how to start the car for the drive to the school, she asked Bryant for help, according to the filing.
Throughout the exchanges included in the criminal complaint, Bryant repeatedly promised not to contact police, at one point asking: ‘You believe me when I promise I won’t snitch on you, right?’
In another message, Bryant conceded: ‘I know I can like, save lives I guess but idk,’ yet kept the plan secret, the complaint alleges.
Prosecutors allege Bryant also helped Van Rootselaar pick locations without corridors and hallways that would allow potential victims to escape.
‘Wide open spaces means numbers,’ Bryant allegedly wrote on August 25, 2025, and elsewhere praised Van Rootselaar’s ‘solid plans’ and advised a handgun to ’cause a lot of damage.’
Yet the picture is mixed because at other points Bryant appeared to steer Van Rootselaar away from a school and towards a grocery store or church.
Van Rootselaar seen pictured happily gripping a rifle
On February 10, Van Rootselaar first killed her mother and 11-year-old stepbrother at a family residence in Tumbler Ridge, a remote community in northeastern British Columbia. She then drove toward Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. Police say she opened fire at the school, killing five children and an educational assistant.
Mourners place flowers at a memorial during a candlelight vigil for the victims of Tumbler Ridge Secondary School mass shooting
The FBI released dozens of pages of conversations between the mass shooter and her alleged online accomplice
Bryant’s case is unusual because the alleged conspiracy involved a planned crime in another country. He faces a federal charge of conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country, an offense that carries a potential sentence of up to life in prison
In early January, Bryant allegedly wrote: ‘I truly hope you reconsider today. I wish there were any other path for you, you shouldn’t have to do something like this.’
Despite Bryant’s alleged help, the livestream on Twitch was shut down after only about 20 seconds.
Mike Herrington, the FBI’s Seattle special agent in charge, said in a statement that Bryant acted ‘in a way that would maximize notoriety for the shooter.’
‘Without Bryant’s misplaced loyalty and willingness to operate the live stream, we don’t ultimately know if the shooter would have gone through with the crime,’ Herrington said.
Van Rootselaar, he said, was worried that too few people would watch and was relying on Bryant to amplify the stream because she had few social media followers.
Despite Bryant’s activity on social media, she has no profiles or photographs easily locatable online at present.
Caitlin said she is baffled by the FBI’s account that Bryant first tried to talk the shooter out of the plan, then helped.
‘They were trying to stop it, but then in the end, they just gave in and started helping,’ she said, adding that none of it makes sense.
Bryant remains in custody ahead of a bail hearing this week, followed by a preliminary hearing and grand jury process later this month.
