US arrest announced in connection with Canada’s Tumbler Ridge school shooting

US authorities have announced the arrest of a 30-year-old from Washington state in connection with the February school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia.

The person, identified by authorities as James Cody Bryant, was arrested in Bellingham, Washington, on Tuesday morning on a charge of conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country, according to an announcement by the US Justice Department. The February attack on a secondary school in the small town of Tumbler Ridge was Canada’s deadliest school shooting in decades, leaving eight people dead and dozens wounded.

Bryant was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday afternoon in Seattle, according to a press release ahead of the announcement. CNN has not yet confirmed whether Bryant has legal representation.

Bryant was allegedly “in repeated contact with” the 18-year-old Canadian shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, “offering advice, sending money, and even agreeing to live stream the horrific event” on Twitch, said Neil Floyd, the acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, at a press conference in Seattle.

The money amounted to a little over $100, primarily to buy a lighter and a pair of shoes that Van Rootselaar “wanted to have when she conducted this killing spree,” Floyd said. The two discussed sending weapons to Van Rootselaar, but ultimately Bryant was uncomfortable with doing so, authorities alleged.

Bryant began an online friendship with Van Rootselaar after meeting on video chatting website Omegle three years before the shooting, authorities said. After Van Rootselaar killed two family members, Bryant allegedly offered the attacker advice on how to fix a car when it failed to start en route to the school.

Canadian and US authorities have said that Bryant and Van Rootselaar, who died in the shooting, are trans women, though officials used male and female pronouns interchangeably to describe the two throughout the press conference.

Assistant Commissioner Elija Rain of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Canadian authorities contacted the US Department of Homeland Security soon after the shooting, based on “information from one of the online platforms used by the shooter.”

“As further alleged, instead of de-escalating or reporting to law enforcement, Bryant continued to enable the shooter over the months they discussed these plans,” said FBI agent Mike Harrington. “In addition to providing money, technical advice and particular items to be used in the shooting, Bryant agreed to record a live stream feed of the attack and broadcast it in a way that would maximize notoriety for the shooter.”

It was not previously known that anyone apart from Van Rootselaar allegedly participated in planning the massacre.

Seven families of victims sued tech company OpenAI in April after information emerged that the shooter had used ChatGPT to plan the attack. The week before the suit was filed, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman apologized to the community for not alerting law enforcement after Van Rootselaar’s account was banned.

CNN’s Josh Campbell and Paula Newton contributed reporting. This is a developing story and will be updated.

美国当局宣布逮捕了一名来自华盛顿州的 30 岁男子，该男子与 2 月份发生在加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省 Tumbler Ridge 的校园枪击案有关。

据美国司法部发布的消息，警方确认嫌疑人为詹姆斯·科迪·布莱恩特，他于周二上午在华盛顿州贝灵厄姆被捕，罪名是涉嫌在外国合谋谋杀他人。今年2月发生在加拿大小镇图姆布勒里奇一所中学的枪击案是数十年来最严重的校园枪击案，造成8人死亡，数十人受伤。

根据此前发布的新闻稿，科比原定于周二下午在西雅图出庭。CNN尚未证实科比是否已聘请律师。

据华盛顿州西区代理美国检察官尼尔·弗洛伊德在西雅图举行的新闻发布会上称，科比·布莱恩特据称“多次与”18岁的加拿大枪手杰西·范·鲁特塞拉尔“联系”，“提供建议、汇款，甚至同意在Twitch上直播这起可怕的事件”。

弗洛伊德说，这笔钱总共略高于100美元，主要用于购买范·鲁特塞拉尔“在进行连环杀戮时想要用到的”打火机和一双鞋。据当局称，两人曾讨论过给范·鲁特塞拉尔寄送武器，但最终布莱恩特对此感到不自在。

据警方称，布莱恩特在枪击案发生三年前通过视频聊天网站Omegle与范·鲁特塞拉尔相识，并发展出一段网络友谊。范·鲁特塞拉尔杀害两名家庭成员后，据称布莱恩特曾向这名袭击者提供汽车修理方面的建议，当时他的车在去学校的路上无法启动。

加拿大和美国当局表示，在枪击事件中丧生的科比·布莱恩特和范·鲁特塞拉尔是跨性别女性，尽管在整个新闻发布会上，官员们交替使用男性和女性代词来描述两人。

加拿大皇家骑警助理专员伊莱贾·雷恩表示，枪击事件发生后不久，加拿大当局根据“枪手使用的某个在线平台上的信息”联系了美国国土安全部。

“正如指控进一步指出的那样，科比·布莱恩特非但没有缓和局势或向执法部门报告，反而在与枪手讨论这些计划的几个月里，持续为枪手提供便利，”联邦调查局特工迈克·哈灵顿说。“除了提供资金、技术指导和用于枪击案的特定物品外，布莱恩特还同意录制袭击的现场直播，并以最大程度地提高枪手知名度的方式进行传播。”

此前并不知道除了范·鲁特塞拉尔之外，还有其他人涉嫌参与策划了这场屠杀。

今年四月，七名受害者家属起诉了科技公司OpenAI，此前有信息显示，枪手曾使用ChatGPT策划袭击。在提起诉讼的前一周，OpenAI首席执行官萨姆·奥特曼就范·鲁特塞拉尔的账户被封禁后未能及时通知执法部门一事向社区道歉。

CNN的乔什·坎贝尔和宝拉·牛顿对此报道亦有贡献。此为正在更新的新闻，我们将持续关注。