OpenAI flagged Canada shooting suspect months before attack

OpenAI flagged and banned a ChatGPT account linked to a suspect in Canada's deadly Tumbler Ridge school shooting months before the attack.

The account "Jesse Van Rootselaar" was identified in 2025 after conversations describing violent scenarios triggered internal safety reviews through the company's abuse-monitoring systems.

Employees debated whether the activity should be referred to law enforcement, according to reporting first published by The Wall Street Journal. However, the company ultimately concluded that the exchanges did not meet the threshold for alerting authorities and instead removed the account for policy violations.

OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood told The Verge that the company aims to balance user privacy with public safety considerations and seeks to avoid unintended consequences from overly broad referrals to law enforcement.

The shootings took place last week in rural Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, where eight people were killed at a residence and a local high school before the suspect, Van Rootselaar, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene.

Following the attack, OpenAI contacted Canadian authorities and provided information related to the suspect's use of its chatbot as investigators gathered digital evidence.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Staff Sgt. Kris Clark confirmed in an emailed statement that the company reached out to police after the shootings, according to the Associated Press.

In an official update published on its website, the RCMP said investigators are reviewing digital evidence, including the suspect's online activity, as part of an ongoing investigation.

Police added that officers have conducted extensive witness interviews and launched an online portal seeking additional photos and video footage linked to the incident.