NEW: The FBI arrested James Cody Bryant, 30, of Bellingham, WA today for conspiracy to murder in the Tumbler Ridge school massacre, which killed 8, including five children. Both Bryant and shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar identified as transgender women, according to police and federal officials.
Per the FBI complaint, over six months on Discord Bryant:
- Agreed to record and post the shooter's livestream
- Gave tactical advice: "Wide open spaces means numbers."
- Sent money for the shoes worn in the attack and for a lighter for the explosive device
- Promised not to "snitch": "I know I can like, save lives I guess but idk."
Photos in the complaint show a trans flag sticker on the shooter's shotgun, posed in front of a trans flag, and a rifle silencer in trans flag colors. When the shooter sent Bryant a photo of the stickers, Bryant replied: "love the stickers."
Minutes before the school attack, the shooter wrote: "I'm going now... I shot them." Bryant: "Watching now."
The trail ran across other platforms too:
- Roblox: after the attack, it removed the shooter's account, which was used to build a mall massacre simulation
- ChatGPT: OpenAI flagged and banned the shooter's account in June 2025 and never called police. British Columbia is now suing.
Bryant faces up to life in prison.