Suspect had the ‘information and ability to alert law enforcement, and even discussed that possibility with the suspect, but chose not to’
A Washington State resident has been charged in the U.S. with conspiring in the February 2026 school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, an attack that killed an education assistant while she was at work, the BBC reported.
James Cody Bryant, 30, faces one count of conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The charge carries a maximum life sentence. The allegations have not been proven in court.
On Feb. 10, 2026, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar killed a mother and 11-year-old stepbrother at the family home, then opened fire at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, Canadian Occupational Safety (COS) reported in its initial coverage of the shooting. The BBC described it as one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history.
Five students and a 39-year-old education assistant were killed at the school, and Van Rootselaar died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to COS, which later reported that the assistant was killed while at work supporting students.
RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said police had been involved with the family home "on multiple occasions over the past several years" over concerns about the shooter's mental health, COS reported. The community in northeastern B.C. has roughly 2,400 residents.
The allegations
Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd told a joint Canada-U.S. news conference on Oct. 6, 2026, that Bryant had the "information and ability to alert law enforcement, and even discussed that possibility with the suspect, but chose not to," according to the BBC.
Mike Herrington, special agent in charge of the FBI's Seattle office, alleged Bryant provided advice, money and items for the attack over months and agreed to livestream it. Court documents show the stream lasted about 20 seconds, with one viewer account.
"Without Bryant's misplaced loyalty and willingness to operate the livestream, we don't ultimately know if the shooter would have gone through with the crime," Herrington said.
A 41-page federal complaint alleges the pair met online three years before the attack and messaged daily on Discord for six months beforehand. Bryant allegedly urged a delay once but ultimately promised not to "snitch" to police. They also allegedly discussed shipping 3D-printed weapons across the border, the BBC reported.
Legal and workplace context
British Columbia and several victims' families have sued OpenAI, alleging it failed to alert authorities to the shooter's ChatGPT exchanges. In an April 2026 open letter, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman wrote: "I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement."
It was not immediately known whether Bryant had a lawyer.
Under section 4.28 of B.C.'s Occupational Health and Safety Regulation, employers must conduct a risk assessment in any workplace where workers risk injury from violence arising from their employment.
A University of Ottawa survey of about 4,000 education workers covering the 2022–2023 school year found nearly 80% said workplace violence had harmed their mental health. Fewer than one in five said safety plans were consistently implemented after violent incidents. In Manitoba, regulators added schools to the province's list of high-risk industries to target workplace inspections.
