OpenAI Faces 30 More Lawsuits Tied to Tumbler Ridge Shooting
The complaints say OpenAI’s safety team urged police notification after flagged ChatGPT threats, but executives overruled it and failed to alert authorities.
- On Tuesday, lawyers filed 30 new complaints in a California federal court against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, representing victims of the February 10 Tumbler Ridge Secondary School shooting in British Columbia.
- Plaintiffs allege OpenAI's intelligence team flagged shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar's account for "gun violence activity and planning" in June 2025, but Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane overruled safety staff recommendations to alert the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
- Victims claim leadership "ignored its own safety staff and refused to alert police" regarding Van Rootselaar, yet acted to protect offices following threats to employees three months before the shooting.
- OpenAI's chief strategy officer Jason Kwon denied Lehane's involvement, stating it is "absolutely false to say Chris Lehane was involved with our original referral decision," while the company previously said the activity did not meet the "higher threshold required" for police notification.
- These complaints join more than 30 existing legal actions against AI companies regarding user harms, with the new filings notably accusing OpenAI of "aiding and abetting" the shooting to hold the organization accountable.
13 Articles
13 Articles
OpenAI accused of ‘aiding and abetting’ Tumbler Ridge mass shooting in dozens of new lawsuits
OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman are facing 30 new lawsuits that accuse them of providing "substantial assistance and encouragement" to the suspect in Canada's Tumbler Ridge school shooting, as reported earlier by TechCrunch. The new wave of lawsuits was filed in a California federal court on Wednesday by the students, teachers, and the principal […]
Students and teachers who witnessed the Tumbler Ridge shooting sued OpenAI in a California federal court.
OpenAI Faces New Lawsuits Linked to Shooting at Canadian School
OpenAI was hit with multiple lawsuits claiming the artificial intelligence company could have prevented a mass shooting in Canada earlier this year by informing law enforcement about the suspected killer’s messages with the popular chatbot ChatGPT.
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