The family of a 12-year-old girl critically wounded in the Tumbler Ridge school shooting has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging the company knew the shooter was planning a massacre but failed to alert authorities — allowing her to evade a ban and continue plotting with ChatGPT.
Maya Gebala was shot three times in the neck and head as she tried to lock a library door to keep out the shooter on February 10. She suffered a “catastrophic brain injury” and remains hospitalized.
Her mother, Cia Edmonds, filed the civil lawsuit alleging that OpenAI had “specific knowledge of the shooter’s long-range planning of a mass casualty event” but “took no steps to act upon this knowledge”.
Eight people were killed in the attack, one of the deadliest shootings in Canadian history.
What the Lawsuit Alleges
According to the complaint, the shooter — 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar — set up an account with ChatGPT before turning 18, something users can do with parental consent. The plaintiffs allege that no age verification took place.
Over several days in late spring or early summer 2025, the suspect described “various scenarios involving gun violence” to the chatbot, viewing it as a “trusted confidante, collaborator and ally,” the lawsuit states.
About a dozen OpenAI employees flagged the posts as “indicating an imminent risk of serious harm to others” and recommended that Canadian law enforcement be informed, the lawsuit alleges.
Instead, the request to contact authorities was “rebuffed.” The only action taken was banning Rootselaar’s account.
OpenAI has previously said it did not alert police because the account did not meet its threshold of a “credible or imminent plan for serious physical harm to others.”
The suspect then opened a second ChatGPT account — despite having been flagged by OpenAI systems — and continued “planning scenarios involving gun violence,” the lawsuit claims.
OpenAI’s Response
In a statement to the BBC, an OpenAI spokesperson called the events an “unspeakable tragedy” and said its thoughts remained with the victims, their families and the community.
“OpenAI remains committed to working with government and law enforcement officials to make meaningful changes that help prevent tragedies like this in the future,” the spokesperson said.
On March 4, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman virtually met with Canada’s artificial intelligence minister and the premier of British Columbia. According to the Wall Street Journal, Altman “pledged to strengthen protocols on notifying police over potentially harmful interactions” and apologized to the Tumbler Ridge community.
In a February 26 open letter to Canadian officials, OpenAI said it had implemented changes in recent months, including enlisting “mental health and behavioural experts” to assess cases and making referral criteria for police “more flexible.”
Because of these changes, OpenAI said it would have reported Rootselaar’s account under the new guidelines.
“We commit to strengthening our detection systems to better prevent attempts to evade our safeguards and prioritize identifying the highest risk offenders,” the company wrote.
OpenAI also said it would establish a direct point of contact with Canadian law enforcement to quickly flag future cases with “potential for real-world violence.”
The Government’s Response
Canada’s AI minister, Evan Solomon, acknowledged OpenAI’s willingness to improve its protocols but expressed caution.
“We have not yet seen a detailed plan for how these commitments will be implemented in practice,” Solomon said on February 27.
What Comes Next
The lawsuit now moves through the courts. Maya Gebala remains in the hospital. Her family seeks accountability — and answers.
For OpenAI, the case represents a profound challenge to its safety protocols and a test of whether technology companies can be held legally responsible when their products are used to plan mass violence.
The company has promised changes. The question is whether they will come soon enough — or whether, like the warnings about Rootselaar, they will arrive too late.
