Sarah Mills: There are always things for which we should be grateful
Sarah Mills says that even in tough times, we all have things we should be grateful for over the Thanksgiving weekend.
The FBI has described the arrest of the alleged co-conspirator in the Tumbler Ridge, B.C., mass shooting, saying James Bryant was calm and “not particularly surprised” when agents turned up at their Bellingham, Wash., apartment on Tuesday.
W. Mike Herrington, special agent in charge of the Seattle field office for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said in an interview Friday that Bryant believed they were not criminally culpable because they were not directly involved in the Feb. 10 killings of eight victims by Jesse Van Rootselaar.
But Herrington said Bryant was “very cognizant” of the risks in having discussed plans for a shooting with the attacker, who killed herself at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where most of the victims died.
“It was a very peaceful arrest,” Herrington said, noting agents detained Bryant after making sure the suspect would be home from work at a fast-food restaurant.
“Our agents actually contacted them and asked to meet after Bryant completed an overnight shift. And after that shift, they came by the apartment and were able to pretty peacefully put the subject under arrest.”
Bryant was charged in Washington state this week with conspiracy to murder in a foreign country, with an extensive FBI complaint citing months of online conversations with Van Rootselaar in which the pair allegedly discuss tactics, targets and attempts to livestream the attack.
The complaint also includes photos said to have been shared between Bryant and Van Rootselaar, as well as descriptions of the attacker’s guns and possible motivations that had not been released by the RCMP.
Herrington said Friday that the release of such a wide range of details is not typical, but its inclusion was justified by “intense” Canadian public interest.
He said it also reflected “our confidence in the strength of the case.”
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington is going to be the one who ultimately decides what they’re comfortable with putting in there,” he said.
“In some cases, we’re going to be a little more reticent to put out information because we feel sometimes it could cause people to prejudge the case or could in other ways endanger the integrity of the prosecution going forward.”
But he said in Bryant’s case, there was deemed to be no “significant risk” from releasing the information.
The complaint cites previous discussions between the FBI and Bryant, although Herrington said no interviews had been conducted with Bryant since the arrest.
The complaint alleges Bryant tried to livestream the mass shooting on the Twitch platform to “amplify” its impact, but the stream only lasted about 20 seconds, showing the armed shooter in a vehicle.
Conversations cited in the complaint say Bryant gave Van Rootselaar suggestions on target locations, and Bryant’s “misplaced loyalty” and willingness to operate the livestream may have encouraged the shooter to go through with the attack.
Herrington added that Canadian policy and legal regimes were more restrictive about the release of information, but U.S. authorities and the RCMP actively discussed what to release in “a difficult balance because there are very real privacy interests for everybody involved.”
“I think we’re very cognizant of our relationship with the RCMP and Canadian authorities, as well as the extreme level of importance in protecting the integrity not just of our case, (but also) of their case,” he said.
“So I would say if RCMP expressed discomfort with us releasing more information than they were comfortable with, we would take that very seriously and would … likely defer to that, because what we don’t want to do is release something that is going to cause trouble for their investigation, for any charges they may be contemplating, and for them as an organization.”
The RCMP has said its investigation into the attack is ongoing.
It has declined to provide details about the guns used in the attack citing “ongoing court processes in Canada.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2026.
Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press
