FBI arrests trans Washington man accused of helping the Tumbler Ridge school shooter

The FBI says a man in Washington state did not just know about one of the worst school shootings in Canadian history. He helped make it happen.

James Cody Bryant, 30, was arrested Tuesday morning in Bellingham, Washington on a federal charge of conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country. Prosecutors say Bryant sent money and tactical advice to Jesse Van Rootselaar, the 18 year old who murdered two family members and then eight people at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia on February 10, and that Bryant agreed to livestream the attack as it happened.

The two met about three years ago on Omegle, the anonymous video chat site, according to court filings. What began as an online friendship became, prosecutors allege, a long running encouragement campaign. Bryant helped start a car to get the shooter to the school, advised on tactics, and sent money. When the shooting happened, Bryant was ready to broadcast it.

Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said Bryant "chose not" to alert law enforcement and instead "encouraged and offered assistance to a murderer." The FBI confirmed that both Bryant and Van Rootselaar identify as transgender, a detail the bureau stated as a matter of identification, not motive. The charging documents focus on the money, the advice, and the silence, and the silence may be the ugliest part. At any point across three years of contact, a single call could have interrupted this.

Bryant was arrested October 6 and faces a federal conspiracy charge that carries severe penalties. His initial appearances will set the schedule for a case that will ask hard questions about how far online radicalization can travel across an international border and what legal duty exists to report a mass murder being planned in plain sight.