Family sues OpenAI over mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

By Canadian Press on March 9, 2026.

VANCOUVER — The family of the girl critically injured in the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., has launched a civil court lawsuit against artificial intelligence firm OpenAI.

The mother and father of Maya Gebala allege in the B.C. Supreme Court legal claim that OpenAI had “specific knowledge of the shooter utilizing ChatGPT to plan a mass casualty event like the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting.”

OpenAI came forward to police after Jesse Van Roostselaar killed eight people and then herself, saying the killer’s ChatGPT account had been shut down, however it also said later that she got around the ban by having a second account.

The lawsuit says OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT was used by the shooter as a trusted confidante, collaborator and ally, and it behaves willingly to assist users such as the shooter to plan a mass casualty event.

The lawsuit says that as a result of the company’s conduct the girl was fired upon three times at close range, with one bullet hitting her head, another her neck and the third grazing her cheek.

It says she has a catastrophic brain injury that will leave her with permanent cognitive and physical disabilities.