OpenAI faces 30 new lawsuits from witnesses to mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

Artificial intelligence company OpenAI and founder Sam Altman are facing 30 new lawsuits from witnesses to the deadly mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., with plaintiffs including a teacher who described trying to protect pupils from the shooter, and a teenage student who recalled his classmates arming themselves "with kitchen knives and heavy tools."

"My colleagues and I are haunted by the memory of shielding children with our own bodies as our ears rang from the sound of continual gunshots and high-pitched screams. An entire generation of young lives, gone in a second," teacher Deidre Rushlow said in a statement provided by Vancouver-based law firm Rice Parson Leoni and Elliott.

"And for what? So OpenAI could get to an IPO? Were the lives of my students and educational assistant just the cost of doing business?"

The lawsuits were to be filed Wednesday in California on behalf of "injured and traumatized students and educators" at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in the northern British Columbia community, the law firm said. Six of the eight victims who died in the shootings were killed at the school. 

Lawyer John Rice said OpenAI had the chance to stop the attack after its staff identified the shooter, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, as a credible threat of imminent gun violence months beforehand, but police in Canada weren't notified.

The company had banned Van Rootselaar's account on its ChatGPT platform; however, "nothing else was done," the law firm's statement said.

"Based on what we understand the shooter to have discussed with ChatGPT, this murderous rampage was specific, predictable, and preventable," Rice said.

The claims have not been tested in court.

In addition to compensatory and punitive damages over what Rice described as OpenAI's "reckless disregard for public safety," he said the plaintiffs are seeking Van Rootselaar's messaging history with ChatGPT before the shooting. 

They are also seeking OpenAI's internal documents outlining its decision not to alert authorities, along with measures to prevent future mass shootings.

The lawsuits seek obligations for major online platforms to undertake safety reforms and mandatory reporting to law enforcement for foreseeable acts of violence, said Rice, lead Canadian counsel.

The plaintiffs include a principal at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School as well as a teacher who shared a classroom and "the same moment of terror" with her nephew, the law firm said in a separate email.

Among the student plaintiffs are "siblings who were separated, each fearing the other had been killed," it said.

The lawsuits are being filed in the Northern District of California, the same jurisdiction where seven previous lawsuits from victims' families were filed.

The Feb. 10 attack began with Van Rootselaar killing her mother and brother in their family home before moving to the school and killing five students and an educational assistant. She then fatally shot herself.

OpenAI and Altman have been heavily criticized after the revelation that Van Rootselaar's use of the company's ChatGPT chatbot months before the attack was concerning enough for the account to be banned, yet police were not notified.

In a social media post, OpenAI chief strategy officer Jason Kwon said the company was approaching litigation related to Tumbler Ridge "with respect for both the legal process and the families and victims" and would "continue to engage in good faith."

"There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about what happened at Tumbler Ridge, or the victims of this devastating tragedy and their families," he said.

But Kwon said it was "completely untrue" those working at OpenAI don't prioritize safety. They "work continuously to identify potential warning signals of serious violence," while also protecting the privacy and security of ChatGPT users, he said.

Members of OpenAI's legal department and intelligence and investigations team employ "hard-to-define standards and processes for when to report cases to law enforcement" in complex situations, he said in the statement issued Wednesday.

"They use automated systems that leave the toughest calls to human judgment, but within standards to minimize discretion and produce principled decisions that strive to balance security and privacy for the people who use our service and the public," Kwon said. 

"That judgment is not infallible, but it is always rooted in looking out for this balance for people."

B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma issued a statement saying the province supported the latest claims filed against the company.

"We are deeply disappointed that OpenAI has made no meaningful efforts to address the harm suffered by those affected by this tragedy," she said.

Sharma said the province would work with families and community members in Tumbler Ridge while it explores the potential for its own, separate legal action. Sharma had announced in July that B.C. had retained legal counsel in the matter.

"The commitments made by OpenAI's leadership, including Sam Altman and Ann O'Leary (OpenAI's vice-president of global policy), have yet to be matched by meaningful action for the people most affected by this tragedy," Sharma said in her statement on Wednesday.

"It is not too late for the company to demonstrate a genuine commitment to survivors, families and the Tumbler Ridge community."

Rushlow, a Grade 7 English and Humanities teacher, said in her statement that she had sent her students to the library at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where police have said most of the shootings would take place.

"I did not know, nor could I know, that when I sent them to the library with my educational assistant, they were living their final moments," Rushlow said.

Another plaintiff, an unnamed Grade 10 student, said in an account provided by the law firm that he had to step over a victim's body during the school's evacuation.

The student said he had witnessed his teacher perform 45 minutes of CPR on the victim in an attempt to save her life, and other students taking refuge with the group in a small storage closet had "armed themselves with kitchen knives and heavy tools, ready to use them if the shooter came through the door."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 2, 2026.

By Chuck Chiang | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.