Editorial illustration for Tumbler Ridge shooter shared scenarios with ChatGPT; OpenAI did not notify police
OpenAI Flagged Shooter's Account Before Tumbler Ridge Attack
Tumbler Ridge shooter shared scenarios with ChatGPT; OpenAI did not notify police
Months before the shootings at Tumbler Ridge Secondary, Miles Rootselaar typed his violent fantasies into ChatGPT. OpenAI’s safety teams saw them. Spokesperson Kayla Wood confirms the messages were reviewed and considered.
The company's conclusion was stark: no “imminent and credible risk.” So they banned the account. They never picked up the phone.
The suspect in the mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Jesse Van Rootselaar, was raising alarms among employees at OpenAI months before the shooting took place. This past June, Jesse had conversations with ChatGPT involving descriptions of gun violence that triggered the chatbot’s automated review system.
The RCMP confirmed this week it heard nothing from OpenAI. That’s the gap. The company’s teams saw the conversation; their own policy deemed it not actionable.
And there is no clear standard, for police or for tech giants, defining when a user’s AI dialogue becomes a reportable threat. That judgment call remains a private calculation. For now.
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Common Questions Answered
What actions did OpenAI take regarding Jesse Van Rootselaar's ChatGPT account before the Tumbler Ridge shooting?
[cbc.ca](https://cbc.ca) reports that OpenAI banned Van Rootselaar's account in June 2025 after detecting misuse through automated tools and human investigations. The company stated that the account's activity didn't meet their 'higher threshold' for referring the case to law enforcement, which requires an 'imminent and credible risk' of serious physical harm.
Why didn't OpenAI notify law enforcement about Jesse Van Rootselaar's potentially threatening ChatGPT interactions?
According to [cbc.ca](https://cbc.ca), OpenAI determined that Van Rootselaar's account activity in June 2025 did not meet their threshold for reporting to authorities. The company's internal policy requires evidence of an 'imminent and credible risk' of serious physical harm, which they believed was not present in this case at the time.
What were the details of the Tumbler Ridge shooting that Jesse Van Rootselaar was responsible for?
[cbc.ca](https://cbc.ca) reports that Van Rootselaar killed eight people in the northeast B.C. community on February 10, including five children and an education assistant at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, before taking her own life. The incident shocked the small community and raised questions about potential warning signs that might have been missed.
Further Reading
- OpenAI Flagged a Mass Shooter's Troubling Conversations With ChatGPT — Futurism
- Tumbler Ridge shooter's ChatGPT activity flagged internally — Global News
- OpenAI contacted RCMP about Tumbler Ridge shooter's ChatGPT account after attack — Coast Reporter
- What we know about Canada's deadliest school shooting in years — ITV News
