OpenAI is facing 30 more lawsuits over the Tumbler Ridge school shooting in Canada, adding to seven cases filed earlier this year. The new complaints were filed by Edelson PC, the law firm representing victims and their families. The new plaintiffs include teachers, a principal and students who were inside the building during the attack but were not physically shot, reports TechCrunch. The latest lawsuits make a stronger allegation against OpenAI. For the first time, they accuse the company of aiding and abetting the shooting, rather than only claiming that it failed to prevent the attack.
The lawsuits are linked to the February 10 shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia. Teenager Jesse Van Rootselaar first killed her mother and half-brother at their home. She then went to the school, where she killed six more people and injured dozens of others before dying by suicide.
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According to reports, OpenAI employees had concerns about Van Rootselaar’s conversations with ChatGPT. Her chats reportedly included discussions about gun violence and ways to plan an attack. Staff members reportedly wanted the company to contact Canadian police over concerns about possible violence. However, OpenAI did not contact authorities. Instead, it disabled Van Rootselaar’s account. She was reportedly able to create another account soon after.
OpenAI has defended its decision. The company said Van Rootselaar’s activity did not meet its internal standard for an “imminent and credible risk” of serious physical harm that would require contacting law enforcement.
“That judgment is not infallible, but it is always rooted in looking out for this balance for people,” Jason Kwon, OpenAI’s chief strategy officer, told TechCrunch.
The new complaints also name OpenAI Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane. They allege that Lehane told staff not to contact authorities. However, the complaints do not provide direct evidence that Lehane was involved. OpenAI has strongly denied the claim.
“It is absolutely false to say Chris Lehane was involved with our original referral decision, or that our investigators report to him in any way,” Kwon said.
Jay Edelson, the lawyer leading the cases, said the plaintiffs are not revealing all their evidence yet. He said Lehane and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman could be “critical witnesses” in the cases, according to the report.
The complaints also question OpenAI’s use of “privacy” and “imminence” as reasons for not contacting Canadian authorities. They point to a November 2025 incident when OpenAI locked down its San Francisco offices after an alleged threat.
“When its own people were at risk, no ‘privacy’ interest stopped OpenAI from notifying the police or circulating the man’s name and photograph to thousands of employees. Nor did it wait for the attack to become imminent because it recognised that waiting would jeopardize employee safety,” a complaint reads.