Teachers, students file new wave of lawsuits against OpenAI over 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.
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NiagaraFallsReview.ca
Eby blames OpenAI for new Tumbler Ridge lawsuits, says it walked away from mediation
PRINCE GEORGE - British Columbia Premier David Eby says new lawsuits against OpenAI from witnesses to the deadly Tumbler Ridge mass shooting are a result of the tech firm walking away from a mediation process, calling it inexcusable and disgraceful.
ChatGPT (GPT) developer OpenAI (AI) faced 30 additional lawsuits due to the fact that it did not take action even after capturing dangerous signs of the shooting incident that occurred at Tumbleridge School in British Columbia, Canada in February. 2nd (local time) Bloomberg Communications and Canadian media Global News, etc.
Students, teachers and other survivors of the Tumbler Ridge massacre in Canada filed 30 lawsuits against OpenAI.
Tumbler Ridge Shooting Survivors File 30 New Lawsuits Against OpenAI
A student takes flowers to a makeshift memorial for the victims two days after a deadly mass shooting took place at a school, in the town of Tumbler Ridge, B.C., on Feb. 12, 2026. (Reuters/Jennifer Gauthier)
Toronto (Canada), 2 Sep (EFE).- Students, teachers and other survivors of the massacre in the Canadian town of Tumbler Ridge filed 30 lawsuits against OpenAI on Wednesday accusing the company of negligence for not alerting the authorities to the violent conversations that the attacker had with ChatGPT. [...] The Survivors of the Tumbler Ridge massacre filed 30 new lawsuits against OpenAI was first published in HolaNews.
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