A 30-year-old US resident has been arrested in connection with a deadly school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, for allegedly encouraging the suspect, authorities said.

James Cody Bryant was charged in the state of Washington with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country, the US Department of Justice said.

Bryant “had been in repeated contact with the shooter, offering advice, sending money, and even agreeing to livestream a horrific event,” officials said.

Eight people, including six children, were killed in the February attack, one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history. Authorities said it was carried out by Jessie Van Rootselaar, 18, a resident of the town.

Bryant had the “information and ability to alert law enforcement, and even discussed that possibility with the suspect, but chose not to”, acting US Attorney Neil Floyd said during a joint news conference with Canadian authorities on Tuesday.

The 30-year-old faces a penalty of up to life in prison if found guilty, officials said.

The shooting occurred at Van Rootselaar’s home and at a secondary school in Tumbler Ridge, a town of 2,300 residents.

Van Roostelaar died of a self-inflicted gunshot injury during the attack.

Bryant allegedly enabled the suspect over a period of months, providing technical advice, money, and items to be used in the attack, Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Seattle said.

The Washington resident also agreed to record and broadcast a livestream of the attack in a way that would “maximise notoriety for the shooter”, Herrington said.

The stream was only online for about 20 seconds and viewed by one account, according to court documents.

“Without Bryant’s misplaced loyalty and willingness to operate the livestream, we don’t ultimately know if the shooter would have gone through with the crime,” Herrington said, alleging that Bryant was fully aware of when the attack began.

Police said Van Rootselaar was known to law enforcement due to a history of mental health-related visits over the years to the suspect’s home.

Van Rootselaar’s mother and 11-year-old stepbrother were killed in the February shooting, along with five young children and an educator at the school.

Several lawsuits have since been filed in relation to the attack.

After it was revealed that Van Roostelaar had consulted ChatGPT prior to the attack, the province of British Columbia, as well as some families of the victims, sued tech giant OpenAI for allegedly failing to notify authorities about the shooter’s interactions with the chatbot.

In April, OpenAI’s chief executive Sam Altman apologised to the families of the victims.

“I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement,” Altman wrote in an open letter.