U.S. man charged in connection with deadly Tumbler Ridge mass shooting

A 30-year-old man in the United States has been charged in connection with the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. earlier this year. 

American investigators say James Cody Bryant provided money and advice to Jesse Van Rootselaar, the Tumbler Ridge mass killer.

Bryant has been charged with conspiracy to murder people in a foreign country. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) detailed information about guns that may have been used in the mass shooting.

Investigators say they were told that Jesse van rootselaar stole firearms and ammunition from her family’s gun safe and hid them in her room in preparation for a mass shooting.

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FBI special agent Joseph Rico swears in the complaint that Bryant met Van Rootselaar online about three years ago, but they fell out of contact while the killer was institutionalized after setting her room on fire.

After that, they spoke daily in the six months before the murders.

Bryant is said to have encouraged and advised van rootselaar for months, then helped set up a livestream to broadcast the murders.

Before settling on tumbler ridge secondary school as the site of the attack, Van Rootselaar allegedly discussed other locations with Bryant.

Canadian authorities say Bryant could also be prosecuted in Canada if investigators determine Canadian laws were broken. 

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The charges were announced at a news conference in Seattle on Tuesday. 

Bob Zimmer, MP of the Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies, says Bryant’s arrest is an important step toward getting answers.

“It’s just good to hear that there’s been some sort of progress on this, in finding this individual,” said Zimmer. “To me, it’s a sick individual. Even though it’s this, the person still accused of that would even consider this, and the result would be eight dead individuals from my community. So again, I just applaud the FBI and the RCMP to bring it to the state that it’s at.”

“I read a lot of court documents including some that discuss incredibly heinous acts of violence. But this complaint was particularly difficult to read in part because of the casual tone these two individuals used when discussing the mass taking of innocent lives as being planned,” said W. Mike Herrington, special agent in charge of FBI Seattle.

In February, Rootselaar shot and killed her mother and half-brother before shooting and killing five students and an education assistant at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. She then killed herself.

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