US man arrested as second suspect in Canada mass school shooting planned with ChatGPT

The US Department of Justice has detained James Codey Bryant, a 30-year-old resident of western Washington state, on charges of conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country. According to the DOJ, Bryant allegedly provided "technical advice" and financial assistance to Jesse Van Rootselaar, the suspected shooter in a mass school shooting in Canada.

The attack, which occurred in February, left eight people dead, including Van Rootselaar's mother and half-brother, and six children. This made it the second-deadliest school shooting in the country's history. Canadian authorities have identified Van Rootselaar as the primary suspect in the shooting, which took place in February.

It was previously known that Van Rootselaar had used ChatGPT to plan the attack, but now it has come to light that he was also communicating with Bryant via the now-defunct messaging service Omegle for six months prior to the shooting. Authorities believe Bryant sent Van Rootselaar about $100 for new shoes and approximately $15 for a lighter.

The DOJ asserts that Bryant knowingly and willingly conspired with Van Rootselaar from August 2025 onwards. Despite Bryant attempting to dissuade Van Rootselaar from carrying out the attack, he still advised her on how to turn on the car to enable her to reach the school and execute the attack. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, was aware of Van Rootselaar's conversations with him about gun violence but did not alert law enforcement.

The company subsequently closed her account, but she created a new one that remained open. Victims' families and the province of British Columbia have filed lawsuits against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, for allegedly failing to report Van Rootselaar's behavior.