Tumbler Ridge shooting survivors among 30 new plaintiffs suing OpenAI

Warning: This story contains content that may be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised.

An additional 30 lawsuits have been filed in California in connection with the deadly school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. that shook the country nearly seven months ago.

This brings the total to 37 claims against OpenAI and founder Sam Altman related to the mass shooting.

Eight people were killed by 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who shot their mother and step-brother, then opened fire at a school in Tumbler Ridge Feb. 10.

In February, OpenAI confirmed that an account connected with Van Rootelsar was identified the previous June and was subsequently banned for violating the usage policy.

The company considered referring the account to law enforcement but determined the account activity did not meet the threshold for referring a user to law enforcement because it did not involve an imminent and credible risk or planning of serious physical harm to others.

The 30 new plaintiffs are educators, a principal and students, including a 13-year-old referred to as ‘A.C.,’ who was trapped in the library.

Court documents filed on behalf of teacher Deidre Rushlow claim, “When the gunfire started, she locked her classroom door and pulled the students who remained beneath her desk… The shooter reached her classroom, found the door locked, and fired shotgun blasts through the front door… From under that desk, Deidre called the library to check on the students… EA Shannda Aviugana-Durand and several of those students were killed in that library.”

Another claim states “16-year-old D.I. was sitting in his science classroom when the gunfire started. He heard shots in the hallway and the screams of terrified children, and then bullets began tearing through the classroom door. His teacher ordered D.I. and the other students to hide under their desks. D.I. heard a blood-curdling scream just outside the classroom, followed by more gunfire, and then gunfire in the library next door.

Moments later, the teacher left the room and returned carrying a younger student who had been shot and gravely wounded. D.I. watched as blood poured from the wounded student’s body and spread across the classroom floor. After a few minutes, the teacher moved the injured student, D.I., and D.I.’s classmates into a small storage closet that shared a wall with the library. They remained packed tightly together in the closet, watching as the teacher administered first aid to the injured student. D.I. will never forget the moment the teacher covered her body with his jacket after her breathing slowed to a gurgle and then stopped.”

Lawyer John Rice represents the victims.

“We want full disclosure of the chat logs between the shooter and ChatGPT from the beginning up until the date of the mass shooting,” he told Global News. “We also want full disclosure of all the internal chain of command documents relating to the identification as the shooter as a credible threat, the recommendation to report the shooter to Canadian authorities and the decision to not make that phone call.”

Chicago-based lawyer Jay Edelson is part of the cross-border legal team representing the victims. In April he told Global News “we’ll be asking the jury to send a strong message to OpenAI that it can’t make a decision to put profits over the lives of little kids and it’s hard to imagine that we won’t ask for at least a billion dollars.”

The civil allegations against OpenAI and Altman include:

“Probably most importantly for these families, they want to prevent another Tumbler Ridge and so this lawsuit is seeking specific injunctive relief from a California court to compel corporate changes at OpenAI,” said Rice.

None of the allegations have been tested in court. OpenAI and Altman have not yet filed statements of defence responding to the latest claims.

OpenAI claims it has strengthened safeguards, including how it assesses and escalates potential threats of violence.

In a statement provided to Global News in April, an OpenAI spokesperson said: “The events in Tumbler Ridge are a tragedy. We have a zero-tolerance policy for using our tools to assist in committing violence. As we shared with Canadian officials, we have already strengthened our safeguards, including improving how ChatGPT responds to signs of distress, connecting people with local support and mental health resources, strengthening how we assess and escalate potential threats of violence, and improving detection of repeat policy violators.”

All 37 lawsuits are requesting trials by jury.