The families of victims of aCanadian school shooting in February are suing OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.
It comes after OpenAI told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that employees flagged the suspected shooter’s ChatGPT account in mid-2025 for disturbing content.
Staff urged OpenAI to contact police, but it did not. A spokesperson told the WSJ it banned the account instead.
This week, victims’ families launched legal action in the U.S. against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Background
On 10 February, six people,including a teacher and five students, were shot dead at a high school in Tumbler Ridge, a 2,000-person town in the province of British Columbia. A further 25 were injured.
Police have identified the shooter as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar.
Her mother and brother were found dead at a nearby home.
Van Rootselaar died by suicide after the shooting.
OpenAI
Weeks after the shooting, the WSJreported OpenAI staff had flagged Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT account in 2025.
According to the WSJ, Van Rootselaar “described scenarios involving gun violence,” which some staff interpreted “as an indication of potential real-world violence”.
Staff told company leadership to report Van Rootselaar to Canadian authorities. They did not.
Instead, a spokesperson confirmed Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT account was banned in June 2025.
OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman published an apology inTumbler Ridge’s local newspaper last week.
“No one should ever have to endure a tragedy like this. I cannot imagine anything worse in this world than losing a child,” he said.
“I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June.”
Victim response
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Surviving victim 12-year-old Maya Gebala was shot in the head and neck, causing atraumatic brain injury and physical disability.
Her mother Cia Edmonds said Tumbler Ridge “do[es] not accept” the apology.
She told Altman he “played a game of chance with our community where we were the only people who could ever lose.”
Court case
The families began pursuing legal action against OpenAI in March in the British Columbia Supreme Court.
Gebala was named as one of theplaintiffs.
This week, the Canadian case was replaced with seven U.S. lawsuits.
Lawyers for the families said: “Ultimately, their goal... is to make sure that there will never again be an AI-predicted and facilitated mass shooting.”
OpenAI response
This week, OpenAI shared a blog post addressing the case, first condemning “mass shootings” and other violence.
“People may bring these moments and feelings into ChatGPT [and] talk about violence in ways that are fictional, historical, political, personal, or potentially dangerous,” it said.
“We work to train ChatGPT to recognise the difference.”
The post said OpenAI is“constantly improving the steps we take to help protect people and communities”.
Florida case
Earlier this month, Florida authorities launched a criminal investigation into OpenAI after the gunman allegedly behind a 2025 university shooting that killed two people used ChatGPT for advice.
Florida’s Attorney-General James Uthmeier said: “If ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder.”
An OpenAI spokesperson said: “ChatGPT is not responsible for this terrible crime.”
