James Codey Bryant, 30, was arrested by the US Department of Justice on Tuesday over the February school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. The shooting killed eight people including six children, making it the second deadliest school attack in Canadian history.
The primary suspect, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, had previously been identified as having discussed the attack with OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot. OpenAI flagged the interaction internally but did not report it to police, instead closing the account. The shooter then started a second account that was not closed. Victims' families and the province of British Columbia have since sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman for failing to report her behaviour.
Until Tuesday, no human accomplice was known to investigators. In a joint press conference with the FBI, DOJ, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police, authorities detailed the alleged conspiracy. Bryant and Van Rootselaar met on the now-defunct messaging service Omegle about three years before the attack and maintained contact.
Court documents allege that from at least August 2025, Bryant offered money and technical advice to Van Rootselaar, including guidance on deleting messages and using a VPN. On the day of the shooting, after Van Rootselaar killed her mother and half-brother but could not start her car, Bryant provided the instructions needed to reach the school. He also agreed to livestream the massacre. While authorities noted that Bryant occasionally tried to talk Van Rootselaar out of the attack, he did not contact law enforcement. There is no evidence the pair ever met in person. Bryant is a US citizen and will face prosecution in the United States.