ChatGPT Canada school shooting: 8 killed, family of injured child sues OpenAI over alleged warning failures

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• Family of injured girl sues OpenAI after Canadian school shooting
• Lawsuit claims OpenAI didn't report attack plans to authorities
• Suspect discussed gun violence with ChatGPT before the incident

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The family of a 12-year-old girl injured during a mass shooting at a Canadian school has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. The lawsuit alleges that the company failed to alert authorities despite warning signs linked to the attacker’s conversations with the chatbot.

The case relates to the shooting that took place in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, on February 10. Eight people were killed in the incident, which is considered one of the deadliest shootings in Canadian history. Several others were injured, including Maya Gebala, who was shot in the head and neck and remains in hospital.

The civil lawsuit was filed by Maya Gebala’s mother, Cia Edmonds. According to the complaint, the suspect, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, used ChatGPT before the attack and described multiple scenarios involving gun violence during conversations with the chatbot.

The filing claims the suspect treated the chatbot as a “trusted confidante” and discussed violent ideas over several days in late spring or early summer of 2025.

According to the lawsuit, an initial ChatGPT account connected to the suspect was banned by OpenAI in June 2025 due to the nature of the conversations. However, the plaintiffs allege that Canadian authorities were not informed.

The complaint also claims that some OpenAI employees flagged the conversations as indicating a possible risk of serious harm and recommended notifying law enforcement. The lawsuit states that the recommendation was rejected and that banning the account was the only action taken.

The filing further claims the suspect was able to create a second ChatGPT account after the first was banned. According to the lawsuit, this allowed additional conversations involving gun violence scenarios to continue. The plaintiffs argue that OpenAI had knowledge suggesting possible long-term planning of a violent attack