The FBI says James Cody Bryant messaged Jesse Van Rootselaar while the Feb. 10 Tumbler Ridge mass shooting was underway.
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U.S. investigators say an alleged co-conspirator helped shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar while the killings were taking place during the Feb. 10 attack in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.
According to the FBI, the alleged co-conspirator, 30-year-old James Cody Bryant, was messaging Van Rootselaar as the murders began. “Bryant was fully aware when the murders had begun,” Mike Herrington, special agent in charge for the FBI Seattle Field Office, said Tuesday.
The FBI says that after Van Rootselaar had already killed two family members, Bryant assisted him in travelling to a second location to take more lives.
The FBI account also says chat records it obtained describe how Van Rootselaar and Bryant planned the Feb. 10 attack. Herrington said the messages included Van Rootselaar expressing a desire to carry out what he wanted to be the deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history, while Bryant suggested where to target victims and promised to help livestream the act.
Herrington said the investigation found an “intense desire” for the attack to receive public notoriety, along with an emphasis on researching other mass shootings and how they were received.
Charles Branas, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, told reporters that a desire for notoriety is common among some past mass shooters, adding that mass-shooting behaviour can involve performance and impulsivity.
The criminal complaint alleges Bryant sent Van Rootselaar money to buy a lighter to help build an explosive device and shoes to be worn during the killing spree. It also alleges they discussed the weapons Van Rootselaar possessed, including an SKS rifle that police previously confiscated and later returned.
The U.S. arrest announced in connection with the case came after Bryant was taken into custody in Bellingham on Tuesday morning. He has been charged with conspiring to murder people in a foreign country, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
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