Social media companies say they are co-operating in Tumbler Ridge murder probe
Jesse Van Rootselaar laid out details of her plan to carry out a mass shooting on Discord for six months before the Feb. 10 murders
By Kim Bolan
Last updated 1 day ago
In the months before February’s deadly Tumbler Ridge mass shootings, Jesse Van Rootselaar was fixated on making sure the carnage would be streamed to the world.
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Van Rootselaar repeatedly asked her friend and alleged accomplice James (Melodie) Bryant to ensure the murders were recorded and broadcast using either the social media platform Twitch or even Discord, the app the two had used to communicate frequently.
Last Christmas, Van Rootselaar, who shot herself after killing six children and two adults on Feb. 10, even wondered if she would have “fans” afterwards.
“I think you definitely would,” Bryant responded before Van Rootselaar suggested the fans would be subjected to anger “for romanticizing me.”
“I am quite hazardous,” she joked.
New insight into Van Rootselaar’s obsession with fame are contained in dozens of messages between the two laid out in a U.S. criminal complaint against Bryant, who was charged Tuesday with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country.
The Bellingham transgender woman, 30, is now in jail awaiting a bail hearing scheduled for next week in Seattle.
Bryant promised Van Rootselaar, who was also a trans female, that she would never “snitch” despite expressing concerns about Van Rootselaar’s plan for mass murder.
The two discussed and tested the livestream several times during six months of planning, the U.S. court documents said.
A 20-second livestream port was broadcast on the day of the murders, before the connection failed. But the only person who viewed it was Bryant.
Both Discord and Twitch issued statements Wednesday that they are co-operating fully with the police investigation.
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Discord spokesperson Michelle Kramer said in an emailed statement that the San Francisco-based company “strongly condemns violence and we have a zero-tolerance policy for anyone who supports, promotes, or engages in violent acts.”
“We share in the Tumbler Ridge community’s grief and extend our condolences to the families and to everyone impacted by this tragedy,” she said. “Following our investigation, we proactively disclosed relevant information to law enforcement agencies and removed the suspect’s account for violating our policies. We will continue to work in close co-ordination with authorities as the investigation continues.”
Within hours of the murders, Discord staff had identified an account “that we believed was associated with the shooter. During our investigation we also discovered private direct (one-on-one) messages.”
She said all chats about the shooting were in private direct messages.
“No communication about the shooting took place through a public Discord server or through group direct messages. We can also confirm we did not receive any user reports related to this event,” Kramer said.
“Once we were confident in the shooter’s identity and the associated account, our team conducted a thorough human review of all related direct messaging content,” she said.
Twitch spokesperson Megan Kay said, “Although we do not comment on the specifics of active legal matters, we can confirm that Twitch is co-operating with local law enforcement regarding this matter.”
“Violent threats and extremism have absolutely no place on Twitch. Our policies explicitly prohibit acts and threats of violence, and content that depicts, glorifies, encourages, or supports terrorism,” she said, expressing “deepest sympathies to the victims and the local community.”
In addition to the disturbing messages shared on Discord, Van Rootselaar also sent photos of firearms she intended to use and even an explosive device that she later detonated inside Tumbler Ridge Secondary, where five students and one staff member were killed. Van Rootselaar’s killing spree began at her family home that day where she killed her mother and brother.
Van Rootselaar had studied other mass shootings online, including at least two that were livestreamed in part, the criminal complaint said.
The teen referenced the May 14, 2022 mass shooting of 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York by Payton Gendron, which was livestreamed on Twitch until the service shut the broadcast down.
And Van Rootselaar also cited the March 15, 2019 mass shooting of 51 at a mosque and Islamic centre in Christchurch, New Zealand by Brenton Tarrant. The first part of the attack was livestreamed on Facebook.
After testing the livestream on Aug. 3, 2025, Van Rootselaar said, “It’s better quality than Christchurch and buffalo (sic).”
In a message later that month, the teen said she wanted to get “a single kill on camera” and complained that “the buffalo shooting livestream sucked ass, it was so laggy.”
Then on Jan. 21, the killer said that if she didn’t “livestream it people can be detached from the gravity of how I feel. It’s just another headline. I need people to see it and personally witness the lives be impacted.”
The day before the murders, Van Rootselaar again “emphasized how important the livestream was to the attack plot,” the criminal complaint said.
“Did you know there have been SOOOOO many attempted livestreams of attacks? Like there have been way more that have failed than succeeded,” Van Rootselaar said.
“Meanwhile, the Christchurch livestream I’m pretty sure had like 50 concurrent views at one point, that’s a lot of ppl. Same with the buffalo stream im pretty sure it had like a good few like 20+ people.”
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Bluesky: @kimbolan.bsky.social
