Tumbler Ridge families seek US$1 billion in OpenAI lawsuit

The American lawyer representing some of the victims of the Tumbler Ridge, B.C., mass shooting says they will likely be seeking more than US$1 billion in their lawsuit against OpenAI and its founder Sam Altman.

Chicago-based lawyer Jay Edelson, who has represented a number of clients in wrongful death cases against OpenAI, says the Tumbler Ridge case where eight victims were killed was “obviously the worst thing” his law firm has encountered.

Edelson is the American co-counsel for Tumbler Ridge victims and family members who filed wrongful-death lawsuits in California against OpenAI and Altman today.

In seven overlapping lawsuits, the plaintiffs are alleging that the artificial intelligence company and their founder failed to warn authorities while aiding and abetting the shooting, among other allegations.

The Feb. 10 this year, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar killed eight people then shot herself.

Shortly after the shooting, OpenAI revealed that staff had flagged the killer’s troubling online behaviour with her interactions with ChatGPT, but the company did not inform police, a mistake Altman apologized for last week.

This is a breaking update. The Canadian Press’ earlier copy is below...

Victims and their families in the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., earlier this year have filed wrongful-death lawsuits in California against OpenAI and founder Sam Altman.

In court documents provided by lawyers representing seven people affected by the Feb. 10 shooting, the plaintiffs also accuse the artificial intelligence company and their founder of failing to warn authorities and aiding and abetting the shooting, among other allegations.

Among the plaintiffs is 12-year-old Maya Gebala, who was shot in the head and gravely injured, and the father of Abel Mwansa Jr., also 12, who was killed.

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Law firm Rice Parsons Leoni & Elliott LLP says the plaintiffs decided to pursue the seven overlapping lawsuits in California partially because of caps placed on damages for pain and suffering in Canadian courts, with the largest punitive damages award in Canadian history being $1.5 million.

“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 recompense under British Columbia’s Family Compensation Act,” the firm says in a statement.

Altman apologized last week because OpenAI didn’t go to police last year when staff identified troubling online behaviour by 18-year-old shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar, who months later shot eight people dead, before killing herself.

“I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June,” Altman’s letter to the community said.

In a statement issued through Rice Parsons Leoni & Elliott, Gebala’s mother Cia Edmonds rejected Altman’s apology, describing OpenAI’s decision to not notify police about the shooter’s use of its ChatGPT chatbot as playing “a game of chance with our community where we were the only people who could ever lose.”

“Did you use ChatGPT to draft your ‘apology,’ Sam?” Edmonds says in the statement. “It is empty, soulless, and lacks any human warmth. Only a machine could have put those words together and called it an apology.

“Tumbler Ridge sees your ‘apology,’ Sam. We do not accept it.”

The victims and their families allege OpenAI made a conscious decision not to notify police, knowing that adding proper safety protocols to ChatGPT would cost the company market share.

The plaintiffs also allege that deactivating the shooter’s account was misleading because the company provided clear instructions to users on how to create new accounts.

OpenAI has said that Van Rootselaar had a second account, in addition to the one that was shut down.

“Those instructions were no accident,” the lawsuit says. “Neither were the missing safeguards. They are part of a pattern. After every tragedy, OpenAI promises to do better. But it never promises to do the one thing that would actually make a difference: stop ChatGPT from engaging with users about violence and self-harm in the first place.”

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2026.