Technology
OpenAI faces 30 new lawsuits over handling of Tumbler Ridge school shooter
New legal complaints accuse the company of aiding and abetting after it did not report the shooter's ChatGPT activity to authorities.
The short version
- Law firm Edelson PC filed 30 additional lawsuits against OpenAI in California on behalf of teachers, students, and a principal affected by the February 10 Tumbler Ridge school shooting in Canada.
- The new filings escalate legal claims to include aiding and abetting, alleging leadership blocked employee recommendations to report shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar to police.
- The lawsuits name Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane as directing the decision not to contact authorities, which OpenAI strongly denies.
- Legal proceedings will test the aiding and abetting claims, which require proving intentionality by the company.
Key facts
- The 30 new complaints expand on seven initial lawsuits filed against OpenAI over the February 10 attack in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, in which Jesse Van Rootselaar killed eight people before dying by suicide.[TechCrunch]
- The new filings introduce aiding and abetting allegations alongside prior negligence claims, representing individuals present during the shooting who were not physically injured.[TechCrunch]
- OpenAI employees had flagged Van Rootselaar's ChatGPT discussions regarding attack planning and gun violence, but company leaders opted to deactivate her account rather than alert Canadian police.[TechCrunch]
- OpenAI stated that the user's activity did not meet its internal standard of an imminent and credible threat of serious physical harm required for law enforcement intervention.[TechCrunch]
- The complaints allege Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane directed staff not to notify authorities; OpenAI denied that Lehane was involved or that threat investigators report to him.[TechCrunch]
- Plaintiffs contrast the response with a November 2025 incident in which OpenAI immediately notified San Francisco police and locked down its offices over an activist's threat.[TechCrunch]
What remains uncertain
- Whether Chris Lehane or other executive leadership directly overruled internal safety recommendations to alert Canadian law enforcement remains unverified, as the plaintiffs cited secondhand information and OpenAI denied the claim.[TechCrunch]
- Whether the newly introduced aiding and abetting claims will survive initial legal motions, given the high legal requirement to establish intentionality.[TechCrunch]