Tumbler Ridge shooter stole guns from family safe as part of attack plans, new court filings reveal
Nearly eight months after the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting, new FBI court filings are shedding light on how Jesse Van Rootselaar allegedly spent months stockpiling an arsenal of weapons leading up to February's deadly attack.
U.S. FBI court filings detail how arsenal of weapons was acquired
Matt Preprost · CBC News
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A shotgun, a scoped rifle and a submachine-gun.
Nearly eight months after the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., new details from U.S. investigators about the guns involved are renewing debate about Canada's gun control laws.
An FBI criminal complaint filed in Washington state this week offers a glimpse of the weapons Jesse Van Rootselaar allegedly spent months stockpiling before killing eight people on Feb. 10
The arsenal appears in photographs the FBI says the 18-year-old shared with an alleged accomplice — Bellingham, Wash., resident James Cody Bryant — who was arrested and charged Tuesday with conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country.
"Bringing 3 guns will ensure I don’t have problems,” Van Rootselaar wrote in one of their exchanges detailed in the document. "I might even bring 4 guns if I decide to make a handgun."
Bryant replied: "Should have a handgun if you can manage a print tbh."
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RCMP still investigating
Mounties have publicly released little detail about the weapons used in the mass shooting. At the FBI's Tuesday press conference in Seattle, B.C. RCMP Assistant Commissioner Elija Rain said those details remain under a Canadian publication ban to protect an ongoing criminal investigation where charges remain "under active consideration."
"We may wish to speak with other people involved to determine where said weapons may have come from, other individuals who may have provided assistance with those weapons," Rain said.
"We don't want that information made public because it could jeopardize other evidence along the way."
Items such as ammunition pouches and a submachine gun are modelled by Van Rootselaar and appear in photographs police say were sent to James Cody Bryant that were included in court documents. (United States Department of Justice/Handout via Reuters)
Guns not from U.S., FBI says
Heidi Rathjen of PolySeSouvient, a gun control advocacy group, said learning new details from U.S. authorities — instead of the RCMP — about the weapons used in the Tumbler Ridge shooting is frustrating.
"In order to improve on our [gun control] laws and how they're being enforced, we have to know what went wrong" that made the attack possible, Rathjen told CBC's All Points West.
According to the criminal complaint documents, Van Rootselaar was "'institutionalized' after being deemed a danger to herself." The documents say after Van Rootselaar's "second institutionalization, Bryant described Van Rootselaar as becoming significantly worse, including increasingly angry and suicidal."
W. Mike Herrington, the special agent in charge of the FBI Seattle field office, said U.S. authorities "don’t have any indication that any guns were from the United States."
According to the FBI complaint, Van Rootselaar told Bryant "she had stolen guns and ammunition from her family’s gun safe and was hiding them in her room in preparation for a mass shooting."
The documents also indicate Van Rootselaar had access to a semi-automatic SKS rifle, a military-style weapon which is legal in Canada.
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The documents include messages with Bryant in which Van Rootselaar said the SKS had been "roughly confiscated" by police in the past, and claimed to possess a "switch" device for the rifle, which the FBI says likely referred to a "machine-gun conversion device."
The complaint further alleges Van Rootselaar "convinced another person to purchase ammunition on her behalf" and asked Bryant several times to purchase 3D-printed gun kits and other parts.
"I’m not risking mailing that shit," Bryant said.
"Valid I guess," Van Rootselaar replied. "You should bring it to me irl. We can meet. Gimme."
Panel to review legality of SKS rifles, federal minister says
The FBI says there's no indication the two ever met in person.
Among the photographs in the FBI complaint is one showing Van Rootselaar posing with an olive-green rifle with a telescopic sight on the morning of the attack.
Another shows a Canuck brand shotgun, while a third image shows a firearm that retired RCMP weapons expert Frank Grosspietsch identified to The Canadian Press as a KRISS Vector submachine-gun, a model banned in Canada in 2024.
Van Rootselaar holds a rifle in one of several photographs police say was sent to Bryant that are included in court documents. (United States Department of Justice/Handout via Reuters)
Bryant allegedly told the FBI that Van Rootselaar "ended up using some of these same items during the Tumbler Ridge shooting."
The FBI complaint document says a short 20 second livestream before the school shooting showed Van Rootselaar "sitting in a vehicle with a rifle and another long gun in her lap.”
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said Wednesday an expert panel is reviewing whether SKS rifles should be banned in Canada.
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Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday with "constant changes" in firearms technology, the panel will give the federal government an "arms length, objective assessment" of their classifications.
"We need the advice directly of the professionals, the RCMP, on those that do not correspond to our laws and those decisions will be taken with that advice," Carney said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Matt Preprost is a reporter with CBC British Columbia based in Fort St. John. He has covered the B.C Peace region and Northern Rockies since 2013. Email him at fsj@cbc.ca
with files from Andrew Kurjata, All Points West and The Canadian Press
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