American arrested as second suspect in Canada school mass shooting planned with ChatGPT | Canada

A surprise alleged accomplice has been arrested in connection with a mass school shooting in Canada, made famous after an 18-year-old allegedly killed six children after discussing it with AI chatbot ChatGPT.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it has arrested Western Washington resident James Codey Bryant, 30, on charges of conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country.

Bryant offered money and “technical advice” to the alleged shooter for six months before the killings, the Justice Department alleged.

Canadian police have identified the suspect in this year’s massacre of eight people – including his mother and half-brother, as well as all six children, making it the second deadliest school shooting in the country’s history – as Jesse Van Rootselaar, who has a history of mental health problems.

Van Rootselaar was known to have used ChatGPT to plan the attack, which took place in February. The security team at OpenAI, the company that owns the chatbot, reported Van Rootselaar internally after having conversations with her about gun violence, but the company did not alert police. It appears Van Rootselaar’s account was closed, but she opened a second one which was not closed. The victims’ families and the province of British Columbia sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, for failing to report its behavior.

It was not previously publicly known that Van Rootselaar was also speaking to a human about his plans.

At a joint news conference with the Department of Justice and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Tuesday, authorities said Bryant and Van Rootselaar met on the now-defunct messaging service Omegle about three years before the shooting and remained in touch.

Neil Floyd, acting U.S. attorney, and W Mike Herrington, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle office, said they believe Bryant sent Van Rootselaar about $100 to buy new shoes and about $15 for a lighter.

Authorities said there is no indication so far that the two suspects ever met in person.

According to an indictment obtained by CBC, Bryant “knowingly and willfully” conspired with Van Rootselaar beginning in or before August 2025.

In August of that year, Bryant told Van Rootselaar that the two men should “find a way to delete” their messages, and in mid-December, Bryant suggested getting a VPN to avoid detection for “posting a shooting video online,” according to the court document reviewed by CBC.

Police said that on several occasions, Bryant attempted to dissuade Van Rootselaar from carrying out the attack, but did not contact law enforcement.

They added that after Van Rootselaar shot and killed her mother and brother in their family home, she was unable to start the car. Bryant instructed him how to turn on the engine, allowing the shooter to reach the school and carry out the attack, authorities said.

Bryant also allegedly agreed to livestream the mass shooting, which Harrington said police weren’t sure Van Rootselaar would have committed if Bryant hadn’t done so.

It was unclear whether the suspect was represented by an attorney. Bryant will be prosecuted in the United States as an American citizen as part of an investigation by the FBI, which said he would continue to work closely with Canadian authorities.