The Canadian province of British Columbia initiated legal action against OpenAI and its Chief Executive Officer, Sam Altman, on Monday, September 21, in a San Francisco federal court. The lawsuit claims that a mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on February 10, 2026, could have been prevented if OpenAI had notified local law enforcement about the shooter's use of ChatGPT to plan the attack. The shooting resulted in the deaths of five students and an education assistant at the school, along with the shooter's mother and half-brother at their home, and injured more than 25 others. The 18-year-old shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Niki Sharma, the Deputy Premier and Attorney General of British Columbia, stated in a press conference that OpenAI had confirmed an internal review was triggered by the alarming conversation between ChatGPT and the shooter. However, this threat was not reported to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI's automated monitoring system flagged the shooter's account to its human review team in June 2025, which focuses on users who may be planning violent acts. Despite the review team reportedly recommending a referral to the RCMP, OpenAI's leadership "rejected that recommendation" and instead deactivated the account without external notification.
The province's legal filing, made jointly with the Board of Education of School District No. 59 Peace River South, seeks financial compensation to cover the costs of emergency response, community recovery efforts, and the replacement of Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, which is currently being demolished. It also requests a court order mandating changes to how OpenAI identifies and handles user conversations that threaten violence.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman issued an apology to the Tumbler Ridge community in April, stating he was "deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June." The lawsuit cites this statement as an "admission that OpenAI identified the risk and failed to act on it." However, the lawsuit further alleges that Altman's promised reforms were not implemented, despite efforts by British Columbia's Attorney General to engage with the company. Drew Pusateri, a spokesperson for OpenAI, called the Tumbler Ridge shooting an "unspeakable tragedy" and stated that OpenAI "remains committed to working collaboratively with government and law enforcement officials, and continuing to advance our ongoing safety work."
This lawsuit by the province follows more than 30 separate lawsuits filed in the same California federal court by victims' families, survivors, and others affected by the attack. Those earlier lawsuits also accuse OpenAI of negligence for failing to intervene and alert authorities. OpenAI has moved to dismiss these family lawsuits, arguing that any legal actions related to the shootings should be heard in British Columbia, where potential financial damages would likely be smaller.
OpenAI's "Law Enforcement Policy" states that the company will disclose user data to law enforcement if there is a "good faith belief that there is an emergency involving a danger of death or serious physical injury to a person and that the user data is necessary to prevent that harm." The company's transparency and content moderation policies also outline the use of automated systems and human review to identify content that may violate its terms, including proactive detection and user reports. OpenAI provides a webform for reporting content that may violate its terms of use or applicable laws, including concerns related to violence and self-harm.