OpenAI Chief Issues Apology Letter to Tumbler Ridge, BC

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has publicly apologized to the community of Tumbler Ridge, B.C., for not alerting police about internally flagged usage of ChatGPT involving gun violence by shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar prior to the Feb. 10 mass killing.

In an April 23 apology letter published on the local news website Tumbler RidgeLines, Altman says he regrets his company not contacting Canadian authorities after Van Rootselaar’s account was banned in June 2025.

“I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June,” Altman said. “While I know words can never be enough, I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreversible loss your community has suffered.”

Tragedy

Van Rootselaar, 18, killed six children and two adults—including his mother, 11-year-old half-brother, a teacher, and five young students at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, before taking his own life.

The shooting also left 27 individuals injured, with two students airlifted to hospital. One has since been released to continue recovery at home, while the second, 12-year-old Maya Gebala, was shot in the head and neck during the incident and remains in hospital in Vancouver.

RCMP said the shooter, who had begun a gender transition from male to female about six years prior to the shooting, had a history of mental health-related interactions with police.

“The pain your community has endured is unimaginable,” Altman wrote, adding, “I cannot imagine anything worse in this world than losing a child.”

Altman said his apology came after discussions with Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka and B.C. Premier David Eby in the weeks following the shooting. Krakowka and Eby had both previously asked OpenAI to own up to its role in what they said was a failure to potentially prevent the tragedy.

Ban

Federal Minister of AI Evan Solomon met with OpenAI officials in February to discuss the company’s processes in the wake of the tragedy.

“We have real questions about their safety protocols, both on the technical and the human side, their escalation thresholds, when they do it, how they make those decisions,” Solomon said on Feb. 24.

OpenAI said the shooter’s account was banned from ChatGPT in June 2025 after internal flags were raised about his inquiries related  to gun violence. However, the company said it did not contact Canadian authorities because it was not believed the account posed an “imminent” or “credible” threat.

“In the months ahead, OpenAI will also engage with federal and provincial governments, our industry peers, and local stakeholders from a range of disciplines and communities to ensure we are collectively meeting the needs of Canadians as we continue to improve our models and safety policies,” OpenAI Vice President of Global Policy Ann O’Leary wrote in a Feb. 26 letter to Solomon.

OpenAI later said Van Rootselaar had opened a second account after the first account was banned.

In his April 23 letter, Altman said his company is committed to ensuring another such incident doesn’t occur.

“I reaffirm the commitment I made to the Mayor and the Premier to find ways to prevent tragedies like this in the future,” he wrote. “Going forward, our focus will continue to be on working with all levels of government to help ensure something like this never happens again.”

Lawsuit

OpenAI is currently facing a lawsuit from Maya Gebala’s mother, Cia Edmonds.

The lawsuit filed March 9 in B.C. Supreme Court alleges that OpenAI failed to alert authorities despite internal warnings of the shooter’s usage of the platform and that the company’s ChatGPT platform offered Van Rootselaar “information, guidance and assistance” in preparing and plotting the attack.

OpenAI hasn’t yet submitted a formal response to the lawsuit in court.

Last month, Conservative MP Bob Zimmer, whose riding includes Tumbler Ridge, said the lawsuit is “justified” due to the “very troubling” apparent actions of ChatGPT.

“Here’s a piece of software, essentially advising somebody how to go through with this, and I think they need to answer for that,” Zimmer told media on Parliament Hill.

In a post on X responding to Altman’s apology letter, Eby wrote that “the apology is necessary, and yet grossly insufficient for the devastation done to the families of Tumbler Ridge.”

Police are still investigating the shooting and are now in the concluding phase of the investigation, according to Eby.

The Canadian Press, Olivia Gomm, and Jennifer Cowan contributed to this report.