B.C. may ‘use the courts’ to sue OpenAI over Tumbler Ridge shooting

VANCOUVER – The British Columbia government has hired lawyers in both B.C. and California to pursue legal action to hold OpenAI accountable for its part in the shooting that left eight victims dead in the northern community of Tumbler Ridge last February.

Attorney General Niki Sharma said Tuesday that no company or corporate leader should escape accountability when public safety is at stake.

“The province is preparing legal action to hold artificial intelligence company OpenAI and its decision makers accountable for their failure to notify law enforcement of the violent prompts made on its ChatGPT platform by the perpetrator prior to the tragedy in Tumbler Ridge,” Sharma said.

Shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, killed her mother and brother in their family home on Feb. 10, then moved on to the local secondary school to gun down five students and an educational assistant before turning the weapon on herself.

The RCMP issued a statement in response to the province’s announcement on Tuesday saying its criminal investigation remained “active and ongoing” and the Mounties had not eliminated the possibility that charges could be laid.

The shooter’s use of ChatGPT before the murders is now the subject of multiple lawsuits filed by families of the victims and community members against the chatbot’s creator, OpenAI, and company founder Sam Altman.

The firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Sharma said “we were all shocked” by the revelation the killings might have been prevented had OpenAI reported the shooter’s “alarming” messages on the platform.

The province would pursue damages on behalf of the government, including the costs of building a new school for the community, she said.

“At this point, the claim is broad,” she said, noting the work is in its early stages.

Jon Festinger, lecturer at the Allard School of Law at the University of B.C., said his initial reaction to the province’s announcement was “that’s a tough case.”

To succeed, he said the province would have to establish a direct causal link between what OpenAI did or didn’t do and the tragedy that unfolded.

The courts recognize negligence, but the company’s alleged role “can’t just be incidental or just have made a bad situation worse,” he said.

“That probably is not going to be enough.”

Altman, an OpenAI founder, wrote a letter of apology to the community for not alerting police when the firm’s staff flagged the killer’s account. 

“I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June,” Altman’s letter said.

“The pain your community has endured is unimaginable.”

OpenAI vice-president Ann O’Leary had earlier written a letter to Canadian officials outlining steps the company was taking to strengthen its safeguards, including making changes to its protocol for referring cases to police.

The firm also made a series of commitments, including developing a direct point of contact with Canadian law enforcement.

Should B.C. file a claim against the company, Festinger said the court would look at the evidence and decide whether OpenAI ought to have known what might unfold.

“That’s what it’s going to turn on,” he said.

Seeing a statement of claim outlining the information the government is relying on would be critical to assessing any likelihood of success, Festinger added.

“The government must know some things that the media and the public don’t know if they’re starting this lawsuit. They must be satisfying themselves that there’s a sufficient causal chain for them to strike this action,” he said in an interview.

Sharma said the B.C. government has a long history of fighting for accountability over corporate wrongdoing and it would ensure residents aren’t left bearing the costs of the tragedy in Tumbler Ridge.

“The events of Feb. 10 will forever remain a dark chapter in our province’s history. Nothing can undo what happened,” Sharma told the news conference.

“But the steps I’m outlining today are about seeking accountability and justice. Justice for the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured and for a community that is navigating unimaginable pain and preventable loss.”

Sharma said the public would be kept informed as the potential case develops.

The province was the first to launch legal action decades ago seeking damages against tobacco manufacturers, while its lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors recently cleared legal hurdles, allowing it to proceed.

Sharma said any legal action the B.C. government would take against OpenAI would be separate from litigation launched by victims’ families.

The federal government has pledged $200 million toward building a new high school in Tumbler Ridge and modernizing the local health-care centre. 

B.C.’s public safety minister, Nina Krieger, said in May that the police investigation into the shooting was in its final stages and the province’s the coroners’ service had already announced it would hold an inquest into the deaths.

The RCMP statement on Tuesday said “significant progress” had been made, but efforts were still underway to analyze the contents of electronic devices seized in the investigation, as well as data from social media and online accounts.

The Mounties were working with specialized units and the Federal Bureau of Investigations to complete digital forensic analysis and investigative tasks, it said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 7, 2026.