A Washington state resident has been charged with allegedly conspiring to help the shooter behind the Tumbler Ridge tragedy, a revelation that has unearthed new details about how the deadly February attack was carried out.
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attack → charge → details
Thirty-year-old James Cody Bryant was arrested and charged Tuesday with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country, American officials said, after the “co-conspirator” allegedly aided Canada’s Jesse Van Rootselaar in committing a shooting that left eight people dead in a B.C. community on Feb. 10.
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that → arrest → Feb.
Here’s what U.S. court records detailing chat logs between the pair, and findings from interviews with Bryant, reveal about how one of the country’s worst mass shootings was allegedly plotted and how it unfolded.
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it → ’ → shootings
Pair met online and used digital platforms to communicate
The pair, who both identified as transgender, first met approximately three years ago on Omegle, an online chat website designed to connect strangers, which was shut down in 2023 after its founder admitted it was being “misused.”
Officials said Tuesday that Bryant and Van Rootselaar kept in contact intermittently over the following years.
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Bryant → meet → years
Court documents reveal that the pair began communicating daily in the six months preceding the shooting, using the messaging platform Discord to discuss the attack.
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pair → reveal → attack
“Bryant and Van Rootselaar had numerous conversations relating to Van Rootselaar’s planning and preparation for the murders, including discussing potential attack locations, the way the attack would unfold, and related topics.
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attack → have → locations
During some of these conversations, Bryant gave Van Rootselaar tactical advice regarding the carrying out of the attack,” the documents note.
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documents → give → attack
FBI special agent W. Mike Herrington said Tuesday that he found the chats “particularly difficult to read, in part because of the casual tone these two individuals used.”
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individuals → say → tone
Chat logs show Bryant sent Van Rootselaar money to purchase items to use in the shooting, including a pair of shoes Van Rootselaar wore during the attack — having expressed desire for “cute shoes for when I do my violence” — and a lighter the killer used to detonate an explosive device inside the school.
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killer → show → school
“As part of the investigation, we had to get subpoenas and warrants to get copies of communications,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd, adding that investigators had to sift through “thousands” of messages.
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investigators → have → messages
The shooter allegedly fantasized about killings — and tried to livestream the attack
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shooter → fantasize → attack
According to the logs, Van Rootselaar mused to Bryant about potentially becoming one of the most notorious mass killers in Canadian history, discussing the death tolls linked to the country’s worst shootings and wondering if it was possible to “steal that title” and whether she would “have fans.”
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she → accord → fans
“Van Rootselaar was insistent that the murders be livestreamed, recorded, and broadcast over the internet for the public to view,” the documents note, with Bryant helping the shooter test livestreaming methods and agreeing to share the video online.
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shooter → livestreame → video
On the day of the attack, Bryant and Van Rootselaar succeeded in briefly broadcasting a video on the livestreaming platform Twitch, right after Van Rootselaar killed her mother and half-brother at their residence, the court records show.
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records → succeed → residence
“The livestream lasted approximately 20 seconds before it was disconnected.
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it → last → seconds
According to records obtained from Twitch, Van Rootselaar’s livestream was viewed by only one Twitch account,” the documents state.
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documents → accord → account
Co-conspirator allegedly asked the shooter to reconsider
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conspirator → ask → shooter
According to an investigator’s interview with Bryant, the co-conspirator told Van Rootselaar in the months before the attack that it was a “bad idea to attack a school because there would be too many young victims.”
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it → accord → school
A month before the shooting, documents reveal Bryant sought to convince Van Rootselaar to reconsider the attack after learning she planned to conduct it imminently.
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she → reveal → it
“I truly hope you reconsider today.
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you → hope → ?
I wish there were any other path for you, you shouldn’t have to do something like this.
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you → wish → this
I wish I knew what I could say or do to change your mind,” Bryant wrote to Van Rootselaar in a January chat log.
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Bryant → wish → log
Bryant told the 18-year-old there was “more you can do with your life” and said: “I know you can get better.”
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you → tell → life
Police say Bryant never reported Van Rootselaar to authorities.
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Bryant → say → authorities
Discussions of weapons and parts
The chat logs and interviews with Bryant show that the pair discussed weapons, parts and ammunition before the shooting.
“Approximately six months prior to the Tumbler Ridge school shooting, Van Rootselaar told Bryant that she had stolen guns and ammunition from her family’s gun safe and was hiding them in her room in preparation for a mass shooting,” the documents note, describing how Van Rootselaar also convinced someone else to buy her ammunition and how she told Bryant “about the kinds of guns and accessories she possessed.”
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she → show → guns
The 18-year-old sent Bryant videos of her testing out using a firearm with a 3D-printed silencer.
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her → send → silencer
Chat logs reveal Van Rootselaar asked Bryant to buy her a gun kit for a semi-automatic handgun, and two weeks later, requested a 3D printed firearm kit, neither of which Bryant sent.
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Bryant → reveal → which
The RCMP has refused to disclose the specific weapons used, citing ongoing investigations.
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RCMP → refuse → investigations
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