A Washington state resident who is transgender allegedly helped enable a deadly school attack in Canada by supporting the shooter rather than alerting authorities, federal officials said Tuesday.
James Cody Bryant, 30, was arrested Tuesday morning in Bellingham, north of Seattle. Prosecutors accuse Bryant of sending money, providing advice and agreeing to livestream the Feb. 10 attack at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia.
“Bryant had the information and ability to alert law enforcement, and even discussed that possibility with the shooter, but he chose not to,” Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said at a news conference in Seattle.
“Instead, he encouraged and offered assistance to a murderer,” Floyd said.
Bryant is charged federally with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country. Prosecutors allege he helped 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar start a vehicle so the shooter could travel to the school after killing two family members.
“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,” FBI Seattle Special Agent in Charge W. Mike Herrington said.
“In the complaint, Bryant even admits to being maybe the only one who could stop the shooter,” Herrington added.
Herrington said both Bryant and Van Rootselaar identified as transgender and that Bryant identifies as female.
The two first connected through a random pairing on the online chat platform Omegle about three years before the attack.
Investigators do not know what their transgender identities were, why they continued communicating or whether they ever met face to face, Herrington said.
According to Herrington, their online relationship evolved into conversations about violence over a period of at least six months.
“This complaint was particularly difficult to read, in part because of the casual tone these two individuals used when discussing the mass taking of innocent lives that was being planned,” he said.
Bryant allegedly agreed to record and livestream the attack in an effort to increase the shooter’s notoriety.
“Bryant even stayed awake after an overnight work shift to make sure this horrific act could be widely viewed online,” Herrington said.
“We certainly know the shooter was concerned that not enough people would see the livestream without Bryant broadcasting it, and was depending on Bryant to amplify the livestream because the shooter did not have many followers on social media,” Herrington said.
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Floyd said the attempted Twitch livestream ended after about 20 seconds. Herrington said investigators have not determined whether Van Rootselaar would have carried out the attack without Bryant’s agreement to manage the broadcast.
Officials also cited financial support, including a payment of slightly more than $100 for shoes. A separate attempted transfer of about $15 for a lighter was later reversed.
Floyd said Bryant and Van Rootselaar discussed sending weapons to Canada, although Bryant was uncomfortable with the idea. Herrington said investigators found no indication that the firearms used in the attack came from the United States.
When asked whether the attack was connected to a political ideology or organization, Floyd said investigators had found no information pointing to either.
Herrington said the messages focused on the shooter’s suffering and a strong desire for notoriety. The pair discussed other mass shootings, public reactions to them and their hope that the Tumbler Ridge attack would attract similar attention, he said.
The investigation crossed the border within days of the massacre, when Canadian police received information from an online platform used by the shooter and contacted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), British Columbia RCMP Assistant Commissioner Elija Rain said.
Here’s the latest on Canada’s deadliest school shooting in decades
Floyd said investigators obtained subpoenas and warrants and reviewed thousands of communications, many on Discord, before making the arrest.
Canadian investigators have reviewed more than 90 statements from students, educators and first responders and continue to examine other online contacts, Rain said.
“Our RCMP criminal investigation remains ongoing and the possibility of further charges being pursued in Canada remains under active consideration,” he said.
Herrington warned that assisting a mass shooting from afar does not shield someone from prosecution.
“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,” he said.
“The FBI and our partners will use all of the considerable investigative tools at our disposal to hold accountable those who enable or assist in acts of mass violence.”
The Feb. 10 attack killed eight victims, including five students, an educator and the shooter’s mother and 11-year-old stepbrother, according to Canadian authorities. Van Rootselaar was found dead inside the school from an apparent self-inflicted injury.
