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Another 30 lawsuits are being filed against artificial intelligence company OpenAI and founder Sam Altman in relation to the deadly mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.
Vancouver-based law firm Rice Parson Leoni and Elliott LLP says in a statement that the lawsuits are from new plaintiffs including faculty at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School as well as students at the time of the Feb. 10 shooting.
Read more:
- OpenAI did not respect Canadian privacy laws in developing ChatGPT, probe finds
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- OpenAI agrees to strengthen safeguards following B.C. mass shooting: minister
The lawsuits are being filed in the Northern District of California, the same jurisdiction where seven previous lawsuits from families of victims in the shooting were filed.
Eighteen-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar killed her mother and brother in their family home before going to the school and killing five students and an educational assistant then shooting herself dead.
OpenAI and Altman have been heavily criticized after it was revealed that the shooter’s use of the company’s ChatGPT chatbot months before the shooting was concerning enough for the account to be banned, but police were not notified.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lawyer John Rice says in a statement that the new lawsuits come from students and teachers who “were eyewitnesses to gun violence, murder, and emergency life-saving efforts rarely seen outside of a theatre of war.”
“If the allegations of fact are proven true in court, our clients and their families want justice,” Rice says, noting the lawsuits are seeking all of OpenAI’s internal documents on its decision not to inform police.
The plaintiffs are also seeking “historic compensatory and punitive damages to penalize OpenAI for its reckless disregard for public safety,” as well as measures to prevent future incidents.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 2, 2026.
