OpenAI faces 30 more lawsuits tied to Tumbler Ridge shooting

OpenAI is getting hit with a much bigger legal blast radius over the Tumbler Ridge school shooting. Edelson PC, which sued the company seven times in April on behalf of victims and families, is adding 30 more complaints this week in California court.

The new plaintiffs are not only people who were physically injured. They include teachers, a principal, and students who were inside the school during the attack. And the legal theory has sharpened too: for the first time, the complaints accuse OpenAI of aiding and abetting the shooting, not merely of failing to stop it.

That is a harder claim to win. It requires showing intent, which means the plaintiffs will probably have to survive early dismissal fights before they ever get near the merits. OpenAI, for its part, says it acted within its own threshold for when a user’s behavior becomes an “imminent and credible risk” of serious physical harm to others. Jason Kwon, the company’s chief strategy officer, defended that judgment as imperfect but grounded in protecting people.

The shooting itself happened on February 10 in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. According to the complaints and reporting from The Wall Street Journal, teenager Jesse Van Rootselaar killed her mother and half-brother at home, then went to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, killed six more people, injured dozens, and died by suicide.

The filings lean heavily on claims that OpenAI staff were alarmed by Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT use, including conversations about gun violence and planning an attack. Employees allegedly wanted Canadian police alerted, but leaders did not do that. Instead, OpenAI deactivated the account, and Van Rootselaar was able to create another one soon after. The company has also faced other lawsuits over claims that ChatGPT contributed to suicides, violent acts, and severe mental health crises.

One new wrinkle is the focus on Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer. The complaints name him as the person who told staff to stand down, though they offer no direct proof that he personally did so, and OpenAI denies his involvement. Lehane is not a defendant. Sam Altman is.

The complaints also try to undercut OpenAI’s privacy argument by pointing to a later incident, in November 2025, when the company locked down its San Francisco offices after an alleged threat from an activist. In that case, the filings say, OpenAI quickly warned employees, circulated the suspect’s name and photo, and contacted police even while saying there was no sign of an active threat.