Families of Canadian school shooting victims sue OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman

April 29 (UPI) -- The families of seven people killed or injured in a February school shooting in British Columbia, Canada, filed lawsuits against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, on Wednesday in a California court, saying the company failed to warn authorities about the shooter's interactions with ChatGPT.

Jessie Van Rootselaar killed five students and a teacher at a high school in Tumbler Ridge before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police said she killed her mother and stepbrother at home before going to the school, CNN reported. It was the deadliest school shooting in the country in decades.

The separate lawsuits allege that OpenAI failed to alert local police or other authorities to the shooter's conversations on gun violence scenarios with ChatGPT, even though the company's safety team flagged them months before,the BBC reported. Last week, Altman apologized to the community for the lapse.

"I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement," he wrote in an open letter. "While I know words can never be enough, I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreversible loss your community has suffered."

One of the lawsuits filed Wednesday replaces a lawsuit filed previously in Canada by Cia Edmonds, the mother of Maya Gebala, 12, who was in the hospital with gunshot injuries, CNN reported.

OpenAI "made the conscious decision not to warn authorities" to protect the company, the Edmonds lawsuit alleges. It's joined by lawsuits on behalf of the six people killed at the school: five students ages 12 and 13 and teacher Shannda Aviugana-Durand.

Jay Edelson, a lawyer representing those filing the new lawsuits, said he will be filing more legal actions on behalf of the victims, families and community members, and requesting trials by jury.

Edelson alleged that although the safety team recommended the conversations be reported to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, OpenAI's executive leadership vetoed the decision, the BBC reported.

"They did the math and decided the safety of the children of Tumbler Ridge was an acceptable risk," the lawsuit said.

An OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement responding to the lawsuits that the company "has a zero-tolerance policy for using our tools to assist in committing violence" and that it has strengthened its safeguards against it.

Copyright 2026 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.