b.c. government hires lawyers to sue openai over tumbler ridge mass shooting
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the b.c. government has hired lawyers in the province and in california as it prepares a lawsuit against tech giant openai over february’s mass shooting in tumbler ridge, attorney general niki sharma said tuesday.
on feb. 10, five children between the ages of 12 and 13, and a female educator, were shot and killed at tumbler ridge secondary. the suspect, later identified as 18-year-old jesse van rootselaar, had earlier killed her mother and 11-year-old step-brother at home. she later turned the gun on herself after exchanging fire with rcmp arriving at the high school.
sharma pointed to reporting by the wall street journal after the shooting that staff at openai had raised concerns about some of van rootselaar’s posts on chatgpt in the year leading up to the shooting. van rootselaar’s account was banned in june 2025 after she created gun violence scenarios using chatgpt, but the company reportedly opted not to alert police.
last week, prime minister mark carney and premier david eby announced they would be spending a total of $200 million, $100 million each from victoria and ottawa, building a new school in tumbler ridge and upgrading the local health centre.
the old school building will be demolished.
“i think we were all shocked when we heard that there might have been an opportunity to prevent the loss of life that this province suffered, that there was a group of people that were aware of messages on openai that were alarming enough to them to say, ‘we should report to the police,'” sharma said to reporters in vancouver. “and you know that never happened.”
sharma said the government was pursuing damages to help cover the cost of building a school and “any other cost that we incurred as a result of this tragedy.”
construction on the new school is expected to start later this summer, but there has been no announcement as to when it could be completed.
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high school students ended their school year in portable classrooms set up at the local elementary school.
the attorney general said the b.c. government is coordinating with the victims’ parents, who announced in april they would be suing the company, but are still in the early stages of pursuing legal action.
she also revealed that the law firms hired by the province are cfm lawyers in vancouver and stranch, jennings & garvey, which is based in nashville, tennessee, but has an office in oakland, california.
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