US authorities have charged a Washington state resident with allegedly helping the British Columbia school shooter. The case spotlights cross-border accountability over online coaching, funding and efforts to hide the plot.

US authorities have arrested and charged a 30-year-old from Washington state for allegedly encouraging an 18-year-old to carry out one of the worst school shootings in Canada’s history. Officials said the accused offered to livestream the February attack, sent money and shared advice on how to delete online messages so the plot would remain secret.

The US attorney’s office in Seattle said James Cody Bryant of Bellingham, Washington, was in contact with Jesse Van Rootselaar in British Columbia for at least six months before the shooting. Bryant, who identifies as female, did not report Van Rootselaar’s plans to authorities, investigators alleged.

“Without Bryant’s misplaced loyalty and willingness to operate the livestream, we don’t ultimately know if the shooter would have gone through with the crime,” said W. Mike Herrington, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle office.

Authorities said Van Rootselaar first killed her mother and stepbrother at home before attacking a nearby school in Tumbler Ridge, a mountain community in British Columbia. Five children aged 12 and 13 and an educational assistant were killed at the school, while 25 others were wounded. Van Rootselaar was later found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Bryant has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, which Acting US Attorney Neil Floyd described at a press conference as a “novel” charge for a case like this. It was not immediately known whether Bryant had a lawyer. A court appearance was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

According to the complaint, Bryant communicated with Van Rootselaar on Discord and gave tactical advice on how to carry out the killings for the strongest impact. “Hallways also mean a lot of ways people can escape,” Bryant wrote, according to the complaint. “Corners to turn. Wide open spaces means numbers.”Officials said Bryant also sent money to buy a lighter that would be used to make an explosive device and advised Van Rootselaar to delete online messages and use virtual private networks to hide the plot.

Authorities said Bryant tried at various points to dissuade Van Rootselaar from carrying out the attack, but ultimately did not contact law enforcement and instead provided support for the shooting. Canadian Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said in Ottawa that the allegations were devastating. “Nothing will bring back the eight lives that were devastated back in February, but it is important that those who are responsible are held to account,” he told reporters. He said it was too soon to say whether Bryant could also face charges in Canada, but added that prosecution there would be possible if investigators found Canadian laws had been broken.

Bob Zimmer, the federal lawmaker representing Tumbler Ridge, said the victims deserved answers. “It is deeply troubling, the allegations that this individual coached the shooter all throughout the process in an effort to livestream the event,” Zimmer said. Tumbler Ridge is in the Canadian Rockies, more than 1,000 kilometres northeast of Vancouver and near the Alberta border. The provincial government website lists Tumbler Ridge Secondary School as having 175 students from Grades 7 to 12.

The families of victims are also suing artificial intelligence company OpenAI in US federal court, seeking to hold the ChatGPT maker responsible for allegedly failing to alert police to the shooter’s alarming interactions with the chatbot.

The case centres on allegations that Bryant helped the shooter over several months by offering advice, financial support and secrecy, as investigators in the US and Canada continue to pursue accountability for the February attack.