30 lawsuits filed alleging ChatGPT role in Tumbler Ridge school shooting
Thirty lawsuits were filed in September 2026 alleging that OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot played a role in a February 2026 school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia that killed eight people. The suits claim OpenAI's safety team had flagged the 18-year-old shooter as a credible threat months before the attack but failed to report her to authorities, and that she described gun violence scenarios to ChatGPT.
What happened
Thirty lawsuits were filed on September 2, 2026, in federal court in California alleging that ChatGPT played a role in the February 2026 mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia, Canada, which killed eight people.
The suits allege that OpenAI's safety team flagged the 18-year-old shooter's account eight months before the attack, describing her as 'a credible and specific threat of gun violence against real people' in internal messages. The company banned her account, but she allegedly created a new one quickly. The lawsuits claim the shooter described scenarios involving gun violence in her interactions with ChatGPT.
Reported impact
Five children and one educator were killed at the school. The shooter also killed her mother and half-brother before the school shooting. More than 25 others were wounded.
Survivors included a 13-year-old who played dead during the attack, and a grade seven teacher named Deidre Rushlow who hid with her students.
Index analysis
The lawsuits name OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of negligence, aiding and abetting a mass shooting, and product liability. These 30 new suits join seven initial lawsuits filed in April, bringing the total to 37 cases.
Governance controls
OpenAI's safety team had flagged the shooter's account and internal messages described her as 'a credible and specific threat of gun violence against real people', according to court filings. The company banned her account but the suits claim she quickly created a new one.
In April, CEO Sam Altman issued a public apology stating OpenAI did not alert law enforcement. OpenAI's chief strategy officer Jason Kwon said the company works hard to create standards for reporting cases to law enforcement.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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