OpenAI CEO Apologizes After Company Failed to Report ChatGPT User Who Carried Out School Shooting

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman apologized 72 days after an 18-year-old killed eight people and injured 27 others in a February 10, 2026 school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, Canada—the deadliest Canadian school shooting since 1989. OpenAI's systems had flagged shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar's ChatGPT account eight months earlier in June 2025, and approximately a dozen employees reviewed it with some recommending police contact, but leadership overruled them, applying a higher threat threshold and only banning the account. The shooter created a second undetected account and allegedly used ChatGPT for planning guidance including weapon information. OpenAI has since voluntarily lowered its reporting threshold and established RCMP contact, but Canadian officials including BC Premier David Eby call the response insufficient, and victims' families have filed civil lawsuits while Canada lacks any law requiring AI companies to report identified threats.

OpenAI's failure to report flagged ChatGPT user before mass shooting

• ▪Approximately a dozen OpenAI employees reviewed Jesse Van Rootselaar's flagged ChatGPT account in June 2025
• ▪OpenAI's automated abuse detection flagged Jesse Van Rootselaar's ChatGPT account in June 2025, eight months before the Tumbler Ridge shooting
• ▪Sam Altman's apology letter was released 72 days after the February 10, 2026 Tumbler Ridge shooting
• ▪Jesse Van Rootselaar created a second ChatGPT account after the first was banned and was not detected until after the RCMP released a name
• ▪Some OpenAI employees recommended contacting Canadian police about Jesse Van Rootselaar's flagged ChatGPT account in June 2025
• ▪Sam Altman published an open letter on April 23, 2026, apologizing to the Tumbler Ridge community for OpenAI's failure to alert law enforcement
• ▪OpenAI banned Jesse Van Rootselaar's ChatGPT account in June 2025 but did not contact police

The Tumbler Ridge shooting and its victims

• ▪Maya Gebala, 12, was shot three times in the head and neck during the Tumbler Ridge shooting while shielding classmates
• ▪Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, killed eight people and injured 27 others in the Tumbler Ridge shooting on February 10, 2026
• ▪Jesse Van Rootselaar killed five students aged 12 and 13 at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School: Zoey Benoit, Ticaria Lampert, Kylie Smith, Abel Mwansa, and Ezekiel Schofield
• ▪The Tumbler Ridge shooting was the deadliest school shooting in Canada since 1989
• ▪Cia Edmonds filed a civil lawsuit in BC Supreme Court in March 2026 on behalf of her daughter Maya Gebala against OpenAI
• ▪Jesse Van Rootselaar killed her mother Jennifer Strang, 39, at the family home during the Tumbler Ridge shooting
• ▪Jesse Van Rootselaar killed education assistant Shannda Aviugana-Durand, 39, at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School

Pattern of AI safety incidents and regulatory gaps

• ▪Bill C-27, which contains the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act, is now widely regarded as inadequate for AI regulation in Canada
• ▪Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act, was designed for social media platforms, not generative AI systems that conduct one-on-one conversations with users
• ▪Reported AI safety incidents rose from 149 in 2023 to 233 in 2024, a 56% increase
• ▪A joint task force between Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and Public Safety Canada is reviewing AI safety reporting protocols, with preliminary recommendations expected by summer 2026

Perspective of OpenAI leadership

• ▪OpenAI leadership concluded Jesse Van Rootselaar's ChatGPT activity did not meet their threshold for credible and imminent threat reporting in June 2025

Perspective of OpenAI employees who reviewed the flagged account

• ▪Some OpenAI employees recommended contacting Canadian police about Jesse Van Rootselaar's flagged ChatGPT account in June 2025

Perspective of Canadian government officials

• ▪Bill C-27, which contains the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act, is now widely regarded as inadequate for AI regulation in Canada

Perspective of Victims' families and their legal representatives

• ▪Cia Edmonds filed a civil lawsuit in BC Supreme Court in March 2026 on behalf of her daughter Maya Gebala against OpenAI