OpenAI contacted RCMP about Tumbler Ridge shooter’s ChatGPT account after attack

By Canadian Press on February 20, 2026.

RCMP has confirmed artificial intelligence company OpenAI contacted its investigators after last week’s mass shootings in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., as a report says employees considering alerting authorities about the shooter’s interactions with its chatbot months before.

The Wall Street Journal report says that despite the employees’ concerns, the company didn’t inform Canadian law enforcement before last week’s attacks in which 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar shot dead eight people and then herself.

The report says Van Rootselaar made posts with ChatGPT about scenarios of gun violence that were flagged by OpenAI’s automatic review system last June.

On Feb. 10, Van Rootselaar shot dead her mother and 11-year-old half-brother at their home, before killing five students, a teacher’s aide and then herself at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Kris Clark says in an emailed statement on Friday that OpenAI contacted police after the shootings.

He says a “thorough review of the content on electronic devices, as well as social media and online activities” of Van Rootselaar is taking place.

He says “digital and physical evidence is being collected, prioritized, and methodically processed.”

Clark suggested that the Wall Street Journal’s headline on the report saying OpenAI staff “raised alarms about Canada shooting suspect months ago” was “somewhat misleading.”

He noted that the report in fact said the platform “flagged the account internally but did not inform authorities until after the shooting occurred.”

The report about Van Rootselaar’s alleged interactions with ChatGPT comes after online platform Roblox said on Feb. 12 that it removed Van Rootselaar’s account and any content associated with her, after she created a shopping mall massacre simulation.

While the investigation into the shootings continue, victims and their families are also processing the aftermath of the attack.

The father of a 12-year-old boy killed at the school says he met with the father of another victim who is fighting for her life in hospital, offering encouragement in her battle.

While Abel Mwansa’s family makes plans for his funeral in Africa, 12-year-old Maya Gebala remains unconscious in hospital after being shot in the head.

Mwansa’s father Abel Mwansa, who shares the same name with his late son, said he met Maya’s father David Gebala in Vancouver on Thursday during a visit to BC Children’s Hospital, where Maya is being treated.

An update from her family posted Wednesday through a GoFundMe page said Maya continues to “defy every expectation” of doctors.

“We were told we only had hours and yet here you are, still fighting, still with us,” David Gebala wrote in the update, adding that his daughter is moving and taking breaths on her own.

“He is a man of faith,” Mwansa said of David in a video posted to Facebook on Friday. “We encouraged one another yesterday.”

Mwansa asked people to continue to pray for Maya, and shared an update on efforts to repatriate the remains of his son to Zambia, the Mwansa family’s home country.

He said the family has the documentation it needs for repatriation and plans to set a funeral date in Zambia once they confirm travel dates with an airline.

Mwansa also took the time to thank people for their support.

“I just want to thank also the people of Tumbler Ridge who are stopping by day and night and bringing whatever they could bring, food and helping us as we are going through this difficult moment.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2026.

Marissa Birnie, The Canadian Press