The Current - US resident charged in helping Tumbler Ridge shooter

Episode Date: October 7, 2026

CBC’s senior reporter Caroline Barghout takes us through the arrest of a 30-year-old US resident from Seattle who has been charged in connection with the Tumbler Ridge shooting. The FBI says James Cody Bryant allegedly provided advice, sent money and offered to live stream the event. 

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Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. A warning, this next conversation contains disturbing details and deals with suicide. New information has come out in connection with the mass school shooting in Tumblr Ridge, British Columbia. A 30-year-old from Washington State has been charged. Law enforcement officials alleged the accused, encouraged and supported the individual who carried out the mass shooting earlier this year. Here's Neil Floyd, acting U.S. attorney speaking yesterday. We learned that a person here in Western Washington had been in repeated contact with the shooter, offering advice, sending money, and even agreeing to live stream the horrific event.

James Cody Bryant had the information and ability to alert law enforcement and even discussed that possibility with the shooter, but he chose not to. In February, the shooter killed her mother and half-brother. She then drove to Tumblr Ridge Secondary School, where she shot and killed six others. and later killed herself. For more on the details revealed in U.S. court documents yesterday and how this investigation unfolded, I'm joined by CBC's senior reporter, Caroline Bargut.

She's in Vancouver. Caroline, good morning. Good morning. How did Canadian and U.S. authorities make this connection between the individual arrested and the B.C. shooter? Oh, in the criminal complaint against Bryant, the FBI says during the investigation into the shooting at Tumblr Ridge, They learned shortly before that incident,

Jesse Van Routzilar logged into her Twitch account, which is a social media site, and started a live stream. Now, that live stream just lasted for 20 seconds before it went down. But in those 20 seconds, the FBI says it showed Jesse Van Rutsalar sitting in her car with a rifle and a long gun in her lap. Police got access to the Twitch records through a search warrant, and they found out that just one person watched that live stream,

and that was James Cody Bryant, a person living in a person living in a search warrant. in Bellingham, which is a city in Washington state just across the BC border. The shooter was 18 years old and was in BC. The accused is 30 and as you mentioned in Washington State. What did authorities say about how these two individuals met?

Police say they met about three years ago on a chat roulette site called Omega. It doesn't exist anymore. It's been shut down, not related to this case. But the criminal complaint says that Bryant told police that after they met on Omega, they had sporadic contact for the first year until Van Routzilar was, quote, institutionalized, end quote,

for mental health issues. Bryant said that Van Rutslar contact them again and was hospitalized a second time after setting fire to her room. Now, we don't actually know why they decided to stay in contact after their initial meeting on Omega, but we do know that they did remain in contact for the past few years. And what do we know about that relationship that was built over time, such that the shooter would confide in Bryant about wanting to carry out a mass shooting. Right. So, of course, it started sporadically.

Then the FBI says Van Routzalar and Bryant began communicating on a daily basis, just months before the shooting at Tumblr Ridge. And they used a social media site called Discord. There they started talking about more serious things like Van Rutzler's desire to commit a mass shooting. She told Bryant that she stole guns from a family member's gun safe and hid them in her room six months before the shooting. She also said she convinced someone else to buy ammunition for her. Van Rutzelar talked about the types of guns and accessories that she possessed,

including some that she later used in the Tumblr Ridge Secondary School shooting, which, yeah. Go ahead. I was going to say the transcripts that came out kind of hinted it at what was to come, and there are some really disturbing details in those transcripts of the online chats. What stood out to you? I think the first thing that stood out to me is how casually they discussed murdering people. You know, what guns and techniques would be most effective. You know, it's pretty clear in those chats that Van Rutslar wanted notoriety for a mass shooting.

She was really fixated on that. The complaint says that she watched live stream recordings of other mass shootings. She really wanted Bryant to live stream and record her killing spree and broadcast it over the internet. Bryant told police that, you know, Bryant agreed to placate Van Rutsilar. They talked about targets, you know, Van Ritzler really wanted one that would have the most impact. There's a quote in one of the messages where Van Routzlar says,

getting 14 kills is a lot easier than getting 22. Though, if I got more than 22, it be simply the deadliest shooting in Canadian history period. That the shooter wanted to, in their words, steal. the title of the most deadly shooter in Canadian history. And the allegation is that Bryant offered advice on how to do that. That's right. Yeah, absolutely.

In one of the transcripts, and that's just chilling, in one of the transcripts, the shooter talks to Bryant about different places that she was considering for a mass shooting, including a Costco and a Walmart, but also different communities, right? That it wasn't initially going to be in Tumblr Ridge, British Columbia, that there were other communities that were being considered as well. Right. But Van Rutsalar decided in the end that this is where the shooting was going to take place because she'd have the most time before police were able to come.

She wanted a kill location that was going to have the largest number of victims. You know, in messages, Brian tells her it's a bad idea to pick a school because there's going to be too many young people. And there didn't seem to be the suggestion that Van Rutslaar was specifically wanting to target young people. just to get the most impact. You know, Bryant suggests a grocery store, a church, a hotel. And like you said, you know, Walmart or Costco were also being debated. Do we know if Bryant ever tried to stop the shooter or convince her not to go through with this shooting, given the fact that, again, according to these transcripts, there was some concern that a school would have too many young victims?

Right. Yes. So police do believe that Bryant was trying to change. You know, in a few of the conversations, you can even see it, Bryant trying to change Van Rutslar's mind, even suggesting, you know, she delay the killings, but never contacted law enforcement. You know, there's messages where Van Routzlar is talking about other mass shootings. And Bryant says, ruining other people's lives isn't the answer.

And Van Routzal responds saying, I don't care about their lives. The only tragedy is the loss of my own life. What are police saying, again, part of the allegations are that Bryant knowingly and willfully conspired as part of this mass shooting. What are police saying about how Bryant was involved in this? There are allegations that money was sent to the shooter, right? Yeah, you know, it wasn't a lot of money. But during the conversations, Van Routzilar was talking to Bryant about wanting a pair of shoes that caused. lost 150 Canadian dollars and that she wanted to wear during the Tumblr Ridge massacre.

And Bryant agreed to send that money as a birthday present. Bryant also tried sending money for a lighter than that Van Rutslar was going to use to, you know, detonate an explosive device at the school. She also asked for more money for stickers to decorate the firearms. And the court documents do say that based on video footage inside the school, We know that Van Rutz-Lar did wear the shoes that Bryant sent money for during the school shooting. Is there anything in these allegations and the court documents that were released yesterday as to motive, as to why Bryant was involved in this? Really, the motive appears to be wanting notoriety, just wanting to be known for a mass shooting.

And that we also know that Van Routzilar was struggling and had a lot of, you know, in terms, eternal grief, was hurting inside and wanting to hurt other people and wanting to be known for this. On that morning of the 10th of February when the shooting took place, we heard this earlier. The U.S. acting attorney said that Bryant had an opportunity to contact police before the shooter went to that school, but didn't do that. What do we know about the conversation that took place that day? So this part is pretty chilling because they spoke on the day.

And, you know, Van Rutherland initially sends Brian to message asking, you know, are you ready with my Twitch account pulled up, you know, for this live stream? Brian says, yeah. Then Van Rutherler says, I'm going to go now. In that message to Bryant, it's really clear that she has now murdered her mother and her 11-year-old half-brother at home, but doesn't know how to drive a car and can't seem to get it to work. Bryant tells her that this live stream has gone down. But then goes on to help troubleshoot those car issues, basically explaining to her how to start the car.

Then Van Ritzler says, well, it's a push start. And Bryant says, you know, we'll hold it down maybe. And eventually Van Rutsalor did get that car going and obviously drove it to Tumblr Ridge Secondary School. We know what happened after that. At no point in this criminal complaint to police say that Bryant ever contacted police. Even months before the shooting, you know, there's messages between Bryant and Van Rutsler where Bryant says, you know, I won't snitch on you.

Even saying, you know, I know that I can save lives, but, you know, I don't know. And so at this point, police say Bryant never did contact law enforcement. We do know. But could have. Yeah, and again, you've hinted at this, but Bryant offered to live stream the shooting to the public. Why was that so important, according to the FBI? Why was that so important to the shooter? You know, at the press conference that the FBI held yesterday, you know, it questioned

whether Van Rutzler would have even gone through with the mass shooting if she wasn't going to receive notoriety for it. Because police say she was really concerned that not enough people were going to see this live stream if it wasn't broadcast. This is a huge part of the motivation, according to law enforcement. You know, in the messages that were included in the criminal complaint, Van Ruther tells Bryant, you know, to post it on a site, hopefully people will copy and share it to the point where it can't be censored.

You know, even asking, will you fail me when it comes to this live stream and Bryant responds, I won't fail you. We also learn from their conversations that the shooter debated whether or not to shoot herself. How did that conversation unfold, as you understand it? Yeah, in the conversations, you can see that Van Rutsler was scared of killing herself. And, you know, she did want to live.

And in one conversation in November 2025, she told Bryant it's annoying knowing she won't live to see cool things, that, you know, if she could hurt other people and not harm herself, that that would be more fun. And even before the shooting, she also talked about different ways to die and different ways to have more impact, including making a suicide vest to wear during the attack. She talked to Bryant about, you know, should I make it discreet and, you know, have a big impact or should I make it look scary and have people not come near me? And police allege that Bryant recommended she make a working suicide vest rather than a fake. So much of this is so disturbing and will be so hard for people who are living in this community, the friends,

family who are still going through so much turmoil. What happens next in this case? So Bryant appeared in court yesterday. It was a really short hearing, walked in, very long hair, dark-rimmed glasses, was wearing what appeared to be pajama pants. And I actually spoke to an FBI agent who said, you know, that Bryant was picked up at seven in the morning. Remains in custody, but there's a bail hearing next Tuesday to determine whether Bryant

will remain in custody. or get out, then there's going to be a preliminary hearing scheduled for October 20th. Caroline, thank you for this. Thank you. Caroline Bargut is a senior reporter with CBC News. She was in Vancouver. You've been listening to the current podcast. My name is Matt Galloway.

Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you soon. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.