OpenAI Hit With 30 New Tumbler Ridge Shooting Suits

OpenAI and chief executive Sam Altman are defending 30 fresh lawsuits over the Tumbler Ridge school shooting, filed Wednesday in a California federal court. The wording marks an escalation: plaintiffs now say the company gave the suspect "substantial assistance and encouragement," rather than merely failing to act on what it knew.

Who is suing, and over what

The filings come from Edelson PC, which brought seven suits over the same shooting in April 2026, taking the running total to 37. Both the company and Altman personally are named as defendants.

The complaints center on an internal warning that allegedly went nowhere. Staff are said to have flagged the suspect's ChatGPT conversations about gun violence and attack planning, then pressed leadership to alert Canadian authorities. Leadership declined, the account was shut down, and a replacement account appeared soon after. The company's internal threshold of an "imminent and credible risk" was treated as unmet.

The shooting

The attack took place on February 10, 2026 at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia. Nine people were killed and dozens more were injured. The suspect, Jesse Van Rootselaar, was a teenager at the time.

This round widens the pool of plaintiffs well beyond bereaved families. Teachers, a principal and students who were inside the building but were not shot have joined the cases.

Why intent is the pivot

Negligence turns on what a company failed to do. Aiding and abetting asks something harder of the plaintiffs: proof that OpenAI acted with intent. That tougher standard is also the more consequential one if it holds up.

OpenAI's answer

Jason Kwon, OpenAI's chief strategy officer, framed the referral decision as a judgment call between protecting users and respecting their privacy — one that is "not infallible" but always anchored in that balance. He also rejected the suggestion that Chris Lehane, the company's chief global affairs officer, shaped the original call, calling that account "absolutely false."

Lehane is named in the complaints but is not a defendant. The claim that he told staff to stand down is pleaded "on information and belief," and the filings put forward no direct evidence for it.

What is not yet established

None of this has been tested in court; these are pleadings, not findings. The reporting does not identify which ChatGPT version was involved, nor does it spell out what safety changes, if any, OpenAI has made since February. A formal response to the 30 new complaints has not been filed.