An American has been charged with aiding Canadian Jesse Van Rootselaar in the February mass shooting that left eight people dead, including a schoolteacher and five students.

Federal prosecutors allege Washington state resident James Bryant, 30 years old, spoke to Van Rootselaar every day in the six months before the British Columbia school attack, offering tactical advice and money for supplies. He also planned to help amplify Van Rootselaar's livestream of the shooting, prosecutors said.

Two people -- Van Rootselaar's 39-year-old mother and 11-year-old stepbrother -- were found dead at the suspect's home, according to police. A 39-year-old female teacher, three 12-year-old female students and two male students age 12 and 13 were killed at the school, police said. Van Rootselaar was found dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted injury at the scene.

Months before the mass shooting, Van Rootselaar described scenarios involving gun violence to OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot over the course of several days. About a dozen OpenAI staffers internally debated whether to take action on Van Rootselaar's posts, but the company's leaders ultimately decided not to contact authorities.

In a letter dated April 23, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said he was sorry OpenAI didn't contact law enforcement about Van Rootselaar, whose ChatGPT account the company suspended in June 2025.