Washington man faces life in Canada school murder plot
By The Conservative Desk (/journals/conservative-desk)
Jesse Van Rootselaar could not start the car.
She had already killed her mother and her 11-year-old stepbrother at home on Feb. 10, 2026. Prosecutors say James Cody Bryant, Bellingham, Washington, told her how to get the engine running. She drove to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia.
On Oct. 6, 2026, federal prosecutors in Seattle charged Bryant with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country. The charge carries a potential penalty of up to life in prison.
Bryant, 30, was arrested in Bellingham the week before the announcement. He lived on Verona Street in the Roosevelt neighborhood. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington presented the case at a joint news conference with the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Death tolls in the Tumbler Ridge attack have been reported as six, eight, or nine across outlets. Victims included children and an educational assistant. Injury counts have been reported as 25 or 27. Van Rootselaar, 18 and a former student at the school, used an improvised explosive device to damage the building and fired through locked classroom doors. She exchanged gunfire with police before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd addressed the scale of the loss. “The Tumbler Ridge Secondary School shooting was a horrific tragedy for that small community and for all of Canada. Indeed, here in the Pacific Northwest we felt the pain of those families devastated by this violence,” he said. “It is even more profoundly disturbing to learn that a resident of Western Washington had a role in the attack and took steps – providing counsel, technical advice, and money to the shooter planning such a tragedy.”
Conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country is a federal charge built for cross-border plots. It means an American alleged to have helped plan killings abroad answers in a U.S. courtroom. Public safety and the ordinary working of the border both depend on that reach holding when the evidence supports it.
According to the complaint, Bryant and Van Rootselaar began communicating on Omegle in 2023 and continued over Discord. Planning for the attack began around August 2025, roughly six months before the shooting. Prosecutors say Bryant sent money for attack-related items, provided counsel and technical advice, and agreed to record and broadcast a livestream of the attack via Twitch. Test runs of the livestreaming equipment occurred about a month before.
The livestream lasted about 20 seconds. It was viewed by one account before it was taken down.
FBI Special Agent in Charge W. Mike Herrington tied that agreement to the outcome itself. “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,” he said.
A U.S. Attorney’s Office press release fixed the sequence after the killings at home. “Even after Van Rootselaar had killed two family members, there was time to intervene before the school shooting.”
That window is the concrete stake for families who never chose any of this. Two people were already dead. The car would not start. Counsel from Washington state, prosecutors say, got the shooter to the school. Rule-of-law government exists first to stop that chain and, when it fails, to prosecute everyone who kept it moving.
Herrington spoke for the bureau’s part in the work. “On behalf of the FBI, I want to express heartfelt sympathy for the victims of this tragedy and their loved ones.” He added, “No investigation can undo the fear and suffering caused by the horrific events of this February or bring these individuals back to their families, school, or community. We mourn with you.” And: “We hope that this event here today can demonstrate our shared commitment to pursue justice for the victims that lost their lives or were injured in this shocking act of violence.”
The investigation ran for months. Agents and officers worked through thousands of Discord messages. The FBI partnered with the RCMP. Floyd called the charge novel for its link to the school shooting. Novelty is secondary to whether the statute fits the conduct alleged: counsel, technical advice, money, and a promised broadcast.
Court filings described by prosecutors say Bryant at times tried to talk Van Rootselaar out of the attack. He did not contact law enforcement. He agreed to handle the livestream as the day arrived. The charges are allegations. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. Additional charges may be filed.
Assistant Commissioner Elija Rain, acting commanding officer of the BC RCMP, treated the announcement as a step, not an ending. “We remain mindful that no investigative milestone can undo the harm caused that day, but we hope it reflects our ongoing commitment to seeking answers and pursuing all available evidence.”
National sovereignty works in both directions here. Canada bears a massacre on its soil and the care of a small community left to bury its dead. The United States answers for a resident alleged to have supplied the counsel and money that helped the plot run. Faith and family are not named in the charging papers, yet the record runs through a mother and an 11-year-old killed at home and through children and an educational assistant killed at school. Taxpayers on both sides of the border fund the agents who now sort that trail.
The platforms where the pair met and planned—Omegle, Discord, Twitch—are ordinary consumer tools. The charging record does not assign them liability. It does show a six-month conspiracy living inside them until a car stalled and a secondary school took fire.
Bryant faces up to life in prison if convicted.
The Twitch feed ran for about 20 seconds. One account saw it. Then it was gone.