British Columbia, Canada, says it is preparing a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging the company failed to report violent ChatGPT activity linked to the person who carried out a mass school shooting in the province. Multiple outlets report the move comes after families of victims and affected parties seek legal action over what they say were missed warnings. The province says it is preparing a separate case and is coordinating with families, and it has retained lawyers both in Canada and California.
Reporting also references OpenAI’s enforcement action in June 2025, when an account associated with the shooter, identified as Jesse Van Rootselaar, was banned. The later February 2026 shooting resulted in eight deaths, according to the accounts cited by outlets, and it involved the killing of the victims at the shooter’s home and at a school in Tumbler Ridge, a small mining town in western Canada. The reports frame the lawsuit as centered on whether OpenAI’s systems and policies should have led to timely reporting of violent activity. No court filing details or timelines are provided in the excerpts.
