Edelson PC is filing about 30 additional lawsuits this week against OpenAI over the February 10, 2026, school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, TechCrunch, The Guardian, NPR, and Bloomberg Law reported. The firm filed seven related cases in April, bringing the total to 37. The new plaintiffs include teachers, a principal, and students who were in the building but were not shot, according to those accounts. The complaints are in federal court in California and name OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman.
For the first time in this wave, the new filings accuse OpenAI of aiding and abetting the attack rather than only negligence, TechCrunch reported. That theory requires proof of intent and is expected to face early dismissal challenges. The suits allege ChatGPT use by the alleged shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, was flagged months earlier, that an internal safety team urged a referral to Canadian police, and that company leaders deactivated the account instead of contacting authorities. Bloomberg Law said the complaints describe a June 2025 flag for gun-violence activity and attack planning, a safety-team recommendation to notify law enforcement, and a leadership veto that deactivated the account; the suits say a new account was created afterward. Those claims are allegations in pending litigation and have not been proven in court.
The new complaints specifically name OpenAI chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane as the person who told staff not to contact authorities, TechCrunch and NPR reported, while noting the filings offer no direct evidence of his personal involvement and do not list him as a defendant. OpenAI denies that claim. Jason Kwon, OpenAI’s chief strategy officer, told TechCrunch the company’s judgment on whether activity meets an “imminent and credible risk” bar for law enforcement is “not infallible” but is “always rooted in looking out for this balance for people.” In statements carried by TechCrunch, NPR, and Bloomberg Law, Kwon said it is “absolutely false” that Lehane was involved in the original referral decision or that investigators report to him, and “completely untrue” that political or public-relations factors drove the decision.
OpenAI has previously said the activity did not meet its internal bar for contacting police. Altman earlier apologized to the Tumbler Ridge community for not notifying Canadian authorities when the account was first flagged, The Guardian and Bloomberg Law noted. The company says it will continue to engage the Tumbler Ridge litigation in good faith.