US man arrested in connection with deadly British Columbia school shooting

US authorities have arrested a 30-year-old American man in connection with a deadly school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, earlier this year.

Prosecutors with the US Department of Justice said they charged the man in the state of Washington with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country.

They added they will share more details about the case at a joint news conference with Canadian authorities on Tuesday afternoon.

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 18-year-old Jessie Van Rootselaar, a resident of the small town.

The shooting occurred at the suspect's residence and a secondary school in Tumbler Ridge, a town of 2,300 residents.

US authorities have not yet released the name of the American man accused.

Van Roostelaar died of a self-inflicted gun shot wound during the attack.

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 also killed, 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 victim's families, sued technology 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.