OpenAI hit with 30 new suits over Tumbler Ridge attack
The complaints go beyond negligence for the first time, alleging staff spotted the warning signs in chat logs and never called police.
Symbolic image: in a law-firm room, a person slides bound filings across a table while monitors show abstract highlighted blocks of text.
OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman are facing 30 new lawsuits that, for the first time, accuse the company of actively aiding and abetting the Tumbler Ridge school shooting rather than merely being negligent.
At a glance
- 30 new complaints were lodged in a California federal court in the first week of September 2026, on top of seven filed in April 2026.
- The plaintiffs are teachers, principals and students who were present during the attack but not physically wounded.
- The attack on Tumbler Ridge Secondary School took place on February 10, 2026, and eight people were killed.
- The filings name Chris Lehane directly; OpenAI rejects any role for him in the original referral decision.
- Edelson PC brought the cases, with Jay Edelson leading the litigation.
Thirty new civil complaints now name OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman over the February 10, 2026 attack on Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. Every plaintiff was inside the building that day, and none was physically wounded. What has changed is the legal theory: the filings allege aiding and abetting, not simply negligence.
Who is suing, and where
The complaints were lodged in a federal court in California during the first week of September 2026. They add to seven suits the same firm brought in April 2026. Edelson PC is behind the litigation, with Jay Edelson leading the cases.
Eight people died in the attack, among them the shooter's mother and half-brother. Dozens more were injured. The shooter died by suicide.
The allegation
According to the filings, OpenAI employees flagged the future shooter's ChatGPT conversations about gun violence. The account was shut down, and a replacement account appeared shortly afterward. No referral to law enforcement followed, the plaintiffs say.
The suits single out Chris Lehane, the company's policy and communications chief, alleging he told staff to stand down rather than contact authorities. They argue his background in political crisis management shaped a culture that treated the episode as a reputational problem first. OpenAI's rebuttal is unusually flat: it calls it “absolutely false” to say Lehane was involved in the original referral decision.
Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon defended the company's internal judgment calls, describing them as fallible but consistently weighted toward looking out for people.
Why the wording matters
Negligence asks whether a company should have known. Aiding and abetting asks what it knew and what it did next — harder to prove, and considerably more damaging to lose. None of the cases has produced a ruling so far.
What is not yet established
The available reports disagree on the exact filing day, citing Tuesday and Wednesday of the same week. They also do not state the damages sought, nor when the court will first rule on whether the claims can proceed.
FAQ
How many lawsuits does OpenAI face over the Tumbler Ridge shooting?
30 new suits filed in the first week of September 2026, in addition to seven brought by the same firm in April 2026.
What does aiding and abetting mean in these complaints?
It reaches past negligence: the plaintiffs claim OpenAI knew about the warning signs in the chat logs and still made no report to authorities.
How has OpenAI responded to the allegations?
The company calls the account of Chris Lehane's role absolutely false, and Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon defends its internal judgment calls as fallible but aimed at protecting people.
