October 06, 2026
U.S. Arrests Washington Man Accused of Helping Plan Canada's Tumbler Ridge School Massacre
Headline card by The Night Desk — no publicly released booking photo yet
U.S. Arrests Washington Man Accused of Helping Plan Canada's Tumbler Ridge School Massacre
BELLINGHAM, Wash. — U.S. authorities arrested a 30-year-old Washington man Tuesday who they accuse of providing advice, money, and a promised livestream audience to the teenager who carried out one of Canada's deadliest school shootings.
James Cody Bryant was detained in Bellingham on a federal charge of conspiracy to murder people in a foreign country, according to the Department of Justice. The charge carries a penalty of up to life in prison. Bryant was scheduled to appear in a Seattle courtroom Tuesday afternoon; court records did not immediately list an attorney.
What prosecutors allege
Bryant was in repeated contact with Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, the shooter behind the February 2026 attack in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia — a town of about 2,400 in the Canadian Rockies. According to law enforcement officials:
- Bryant offered the shooter technical advice and sent money — a little over $100 in total, primarily for a lighter and a pair of shoes Van Rootselaar "wanted to have when she conducted this killing spree," acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said.
- The two discussed sending weapons to Van Rootselaar, but Bryant declined, according to the complaint.
- Most strikingly, Bryant agreed to livestream the attack on Twitch and broadcast it "in a way that would maximize notoriety for the shooter," said Mike Herrington, the FBI's special agent in charge in Seattle. The stream was shut down after about 20 seconds.
- The two met on the video chat site Omegle three years before the shooting; the complaint includes excerpts of their chat logs on Discord.
"James Cody Bryant had the information and ability to alert law enforcement and even discussed that possibility with the shooter, but he chose not to, and he encouraged and offered assistance to a murderer," Floyd told reporters.
"Without Bryant's misplaced loyalty..."
FBI officials suggested the livestream arrangement was load-bearing for the attack itself:
"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. We certainly know the shooter was concerned that not enough people would see the live stream without Bryant broadcasting it, and was depending on Bryant to amplify the live stream because the shooter did not have many followers on social media." — Mike Herrington, FBI Seattle
The February attack
Van Rootselaar killed her mother and stepbrother at home before going to her former secondary school in Tumbler Ridge, where she shot dead a teacher and five young students and wounded dozens more, police said. She then died by suicide. It was Canada's deadliest school shooting in decades.
What happens next
Bryant's initial court appearance was set for Tuesday afternoon in Seattle. The conspiracy charge — murder in a foreign country — is rarely filed and carries up to life in federal prison.
DEVELOPING — we'll update this article as court filings and further details land.
Sources: Reuters, CNN, U.S. Department of Justice announcement (Oct. 6, 2026).
Source: Reuters — read the original report
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