Seven Tumbler Ridge families have filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court seeking damages from tech giant OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman.
The Vancouver-based law firm Rice Parsons Leoni & Elliot (RPLE) said Wednesday the families are working with a cross-border team to prosecute the cases in California, where OpenAI is based.
Altman said in a letter to the community of Tumbler Ridge on Friday he’s “deeply sorry” the company did not alert police about Jesse Van Rootselaar’s interactions with the company’s ChatGPT chatbot, months before the shooting on Feb. 10.
RCMP said 18-year-old Van Rootselaar shot her mother and 11-year-old half-brother at a home in the small, northeastern B.C. community before killing five children and an educator at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. Dozens of others were wounded in the shootings.
Following reports in the Wall Street Journal, OpenAI confirmed it had banned Van Rootselaar’s account in June 2025. It said several employees raised concerns about her messages with ChatGPT, but the company decided not to report the account to law enforcement.
The company said it discovered after the shooting that Van Rootselaar had created a second account after her original account was banned. It said both accounts have since been referred to RCMP.
The lawsuits are filed by the families of those killed at the school, including 12-year-olds Zoe Benoit, Ticaria Lampert, Abel Mwansa and Kylie Smith, 13-year-old Ezekial Schofield, and teacher’s aide Shannda Aviugana-Durand, 39.
RPLE said a lawsuit previously filed in B.C. by the mother of 12-year-old Maya Gebala, who was injured in the shooting, has been withdrawn, and the family is also now filing a suit in California.
RPLE said there are challenges to litigating the cases in Canada, where damages for pain and suffering are capped at around $470,000 CAD.
“With respect to the murdered children, their estates are not permitted to bring claims in British Columbia for damages against OpenAI, and in most cases the loved ones of wrongfully killed children are unable to recover any recompence under British Columbia’s Family Compensation Act,” the firm said in a press release.
John Rice, lead Canadian counsel for the victims, said the families want to prevent artificial intelligence from facilitating any other mass shooting.
“Based on what we understand the Shooter to have discussed with ChatGPT, this murderous rampage was specific, predictable, and preventable – and OpenAI had the chance to stop it,” said Rice.
“These families have faith in our friends and neighbors in the United States of America, they seek justice, and they want OpenAI’s conduct assessed in the same jurisdiction it calls home – the Northern District of California,” he said.
Legal documents related to the filings call for a jury trial against Sam Altman and OpenAI.
They allege the attack was a predictable outcome of design choices OpenAI made to let ChatGPT engage with users about violence.
The lawsuits note OpenAI is on the cusp of an initial public offering at a valuation close to $1 trillion.
They allege that OpenAI’s decision not to alert the authorities about the messages was a calculated choice to manage the public perception of ChatGPT as a “safe, essential tool,” and preserve its valuation.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
“I cannot imagine anything worse in this world than losing a child,” said Altman in his apology 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,” he said.
Gebala’s mother, Cia Edmonds, said in a statement released by RPLE that Tumbler Ridge does not accept his apology. She said a “simple phone call” to police could have prevented the shootings.
“Did you use ChatGPT to draft your ‘apology’, Sam? It is empty, soulless, and lacks any human warmth,” said Edmonds. “You say the worst thing in the world is losing a child. Do you know what is worse, Sam? There are parents who never got to say goodbye to their children.”
An OpenAI spokesperson did not directly comment on the lawsuit or Edmonds’ response to Altman’s apology, but said in an emailed statement Wednesday the events in Tumbler Ridge are a “tragedy.”
“We have a zero-tolerance policy for using our tools to assist in committing violence. As we shared with Canadian officials, we have already strengthened our safeguards, including improving how ChatGPT responds to signs of distress, connecting people with local support and mental health resources, strengthening how we assess and escalate potential threats of violence, and improving detection of repeat policy violators,” said the statement.
Premier David Eby said Wednesday the decision to file the lawsuit in California instead of British Columbia was likely a strategic one based on the differences in the legal systems and the amount of damages the courts can award.
He said B.C. will continue to seek accountability and answers to what happened in Tumbler Ridge, noting a coroner’s inquest is set to take place into the shootings.
“If necessary, we will go to a public inquiry to ensure that the answers are provided,” he said.
B.C.’s Chief Coroner Taj Baidwan has said the inquest could include an examination of how information is shared between online platforms and law enforcement.
Eby said last week the RCMP’s investigation is in its “final stages.”
