Federal prosecutors charged a Bellingham man with conspiring in the Tumbler Ridge school shooting from across the border.

A criminal complaint is an agent's sworn summary written to get an arrest. It is not an indictment, and no grand jury has voted on it yet. Conspiracy is about agreement and intent: the government has to prove Bryant agreed that people would be killed and meant to help it happen, not just that Bryant knew about a plan and kept talking. The same complaint quotes Bryant trying to talk the shooter out of it more than once. Prosecutors will point to the $14 lighter, the livestream tests and the advice on starting the car. The defense will point to the messages pleading with her to stop. That fight is what a jury would decide.

Federal agents arrested James Cody Bryant, 30, of Bellingham, Washington, on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington charged Bryant with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country, FOX 13 Seattle and CBC News reported. The charge is tied to the Feb. 10, 2026 mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar killed two family members at home, then drove to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and shot and killed five students and an educational assistant. Authorities said 27 others were injured. The shooter died by suicide after exchanging gunfire with police. The charge carries up to life in prison.

The criminal complaint, as described by CBC News and FOX 13 Seattle, alleges Bryant and Van Rootselaar communicated on Discord for about six months starting around August 2025. Prosecutors allege Bryant agreed to record and broadcast a livestream of the attack, helped test streaming equipment on Aug. 30, 2025 and again on Jan. 4, 2026, gave advice about weapons, and told the shooter to delete messages and use a VPN. CBC News reported the complaint says Bryant sent about $125 on Nov. 21 for shoes the shooter wanted to wear and $14 on Jan. 25 for a lighter intended for an explosive device. Prosecutors also allege that on the day of the attack, after the shooter said she had killed her family and could not start the car, Bryant gave advice on getting the engine to turn over. Those are allegations in a charging document. None has been tested in court.

The same complaint contains messages that cut the other way. CBC News reported that Bryant told FBI agents the livestream promise was made to 'placate' the shooter, that Bryant called a school a bad target because there would be too many young victims, and that in January Bryant wrote, 'I wish there were any other path for you.' FOX 13 Seattle reported prosecutors acknowledge Bryant tried to talk her out of the attack between August and February but never contacted police. CBC News reported Bryant made a first appearance Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian Tsuchida in Seattle, where the government asked that Bryant be held without bail. A detention hearing is set for next Tuesday, and a preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 20 at 1 p.m. PT. CBC News reported the complaint says Discord voluntarily shared information with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which passed it to the FBI. Talking with someone who later commits murder is not, by itself, a conspiracy to murder. Prosecutors will have to prove an agreement and intent. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.