Federal agents arrested a 30-year-old Washington resident Tuesday morning and charged him with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country after alleging he sent money, gave advice, and agreed to livestream a Feb. 10 school shooting in British Columbia that left eight people dead.

James Cody Bryant was taken into custody in Bellingham, north of Seattle. Officials said the shooter, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, killed five students, an educator, and Van Rootselaar’s mother and 11-year-old stepbrother before being found dead inside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School from an apparent self-inflicted injury. Fox News reported the charges and the joint U.S.-Canadian briefing that followed in Seattle.

Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd and FBI Seattle Special Agent in Charge W. Mike Herrington said Bryant and Van Rootselaar built an online friendship that turned into months of talk about violence. Both were identified as transgender, Herrington said. Officials stressed they found no sign of political ideology or group affiliation. The case puts remote online help under a federal murder-conspiracy statute and raises hard questions about who can stop a plot when one person holds the warning and stays silent.

What prosecutors say Bryant did

Floyd told reporters Bryant had the chance to stop the attack and talked about that choice with the shooter. He did not call police.

"Bryant had the information and ability to alert law enforcement, and even discussed that possibility with the shooter, but he chose not to."

Floyd added that Bryant “encouraged and offered assistance to a murderer.” Herrington said the criminal complaint includes Bryant’s own admission that he may have been the only person who could stop the shooter. Breitbart reported an alleged reply from Bryant when the topic of tipping police came up: “I could. I don’t want to honestly. I know I can like, save lives I guess but [I don’t know].”

Authorities allege Bryant agreed to broadcast a Twitch livestream of the attack, stayed awake after an overnight work shift to push the feed, and helped the shooter start a car after two family members had already been killed so Van Rootselaar could reach the school. The attempted stream lasted about 20 seconds before it shut down, Floyd said. Herrington said the shooter worried about a thin audience and counted on Bryant to amplify it.

"So even after the shooter had already tragically killed two family members, Bryant assisted the shooter in successfully traveling to the second location to take even more lives."

That alleged car help sits at the center of the government’s claim that Bryant moved from talk to action while killings were underway. Similar charging fights over planning messages have surfaced in other cases, including when an ex-mistress testified about texts allegedly mapping out a killing.

Money, advice, and months of online talk

Herrington said the pair met through random pairing on Omegle roughly three years before the attack. Their friendship later shifted into discussions of violence for at least six months. Investigators used subpoenas and warrants and reviewed thousands of communications, including material on Discord.

The Washington Examiner reported that the talks covered firearms, ways to raise the death toll, livestream plans, and coaching on secrecy. Bryant allegedly sent funds tied to a lighter for an explosive device. Fox News described the alleged money trail as a little more than $100 for shoes and an attempted transfer of roughly $15 for a lighter that was ultimately reversed. Breitbart put one PayPal figure at $14.33.

The New York Post described tactical advice in the complaint, including a message about school layout. “Hallways also mean a lot of ways people can escape. Corners to turn. Wide open spaces means numbers,” Bryant allegedly wrote. Officials also said the pair discussed sending weapons to Canada, but Bryant was uncomfortable with that step. Herrington said there was no indication the guns used in the attack came from the United States.

Cross-border cases often turn on how fast tips move between agencies, a pattern also seen when ICE arrested a suspect allegedly tied to a political assassination plot.

How the investigation crossed the border

British Columbia RCMP Assistant Commissioner Elija Rain said the probe jumped the border within days. Canadian police received information from an online platform used by the shooter and contacted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Canadian investigators have reviewed more than 90 statements from students, educators, and first responders.

"Our RCMP criminal investigation remains ongoing and the possibility of further charges being pursued in Canada remains under active consideration."

Rain’s update leaves open more Canadian counts even as the U.S. case focuses on the conspiracy charge against Bryant. Herrington framed the complaint as hard to read because of the casual tone used while the pair talked about killing. He also said investigators do not know whether the attack would have happened without Bryant’s willingness to run the livestream.

"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."

That uncertainty does not soften the charge. It does mark what still must be proven in court: intent, agreement, and concrete aid. Arrests tied to fatal shootings continue to test how far liability reaches beyond the person who pulls the trigger, as when Dublin police arrested an elderly couple after a New York media executive was shot dead.

Federal warning on remote enablers

Herrington closed with a direct message aimed at anyone who thinks distance is a shield.

"If you think you are safe from prosecution because you did not pull the trigger, or were not physically present at the scene of the crime, think again."

He said the FBI and its partners will use “all of the considerable investigative tools at our disposal to hold accountable those who enable or assist in acts of mass violence.” Floyd’s office in the Western District of Washington is carrying the conspiracy case. The complaint itself has not been quoted at length in public briefings beyond the officials’ characterizations, including Bryant’s alleged admission that he may have been the only person positioned to stop the shooter.

Procedurally, the next steps are familiar: detention or release conditions, discovery of the chat logs and money records, and litigation over what the messages prove about agreement and intent. Canadian authorities may still add charges. No public results have been released on whether any other U.S. defendants face counts from the same online circle. Custody fights after major arrests often move quickly, much like when Daniel Burns was ordered held in Alabama on Oceanside hate crime charges.

Stakes beyond one arrest

Eight families are burying students, an educator, a mother, and an 11-year-old. A school in Tumbler Ridge is a crime scene. A U.S. defendant now faces a foreign-murder conspiracy count built on chats, small transfers, a failed stream, and alleged help starting a car mid-attack.

Officials say the pair chased notoriety. Herrington pointed to the shooter’s suffering and “a very keen focus on notoriety,” and said they discussed other mass shootings and a desire for similar attention. Floyd said investigators found no political program behind the plot. The government’s theory is simpler and colder: knowledge, encouragement, money, technical help, and a decision not to call police.

Law-and-order cases like this one also expose how online platforms become evidence rooms once warrants land. Omegle paired them. Discord held traffic. Twitch was the planned stage. The tools that host idle talk can become the record that supports a conspiracy charge when the talk turns into a body count. Overnight attacks on public buildings have driven other charging decisions too, including a Colorado ex-deputy facing counts after gunfire at sheriff and police facilities.

Bryant remains the only U.S. defendant named in the Tuesday announcement. Van Rootselaar is dead. The RCMP says its file is open. Federal prosecutors say the complaint shows a man who knew, helped, and stayed quiet when warning police was still possible.

When remote helpers treat mass killing like shared content, the justice system has to answer with charges that match the harm, not with excuses about who held the gun.