The family of a 12-year-old injured in last month’s Tumbler Ridge shooting has filed a lawsuit against technology company OpenAI.
Maya Gebala was shot three times during the Feb. 10 shooting and remains in serious condition in hospital. Her mother, Cia Edmonds, filed a notice of civil claim on Monday on behalf of Gebala and her younger sister, Dahlia Gebala.
The civil claim alleges OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot equipped the shooter with information and guidance to carry out a mass shooting. It said OpenAI was aware of the shooter’s violent intentions and had a duty of care to report her ChatGPT interactions to law enforcement.
The claim said the company’s GPT-4o was intentionally designed to foster psychological dependency between the user and ChatGPT, including through “heightened sycophancy to mirror and affirm user emotions.”
None of the claims have been proven in court.
RCMP said 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar shot her mother and 11-year-old half-brother at a home in the small northeastern B.C. community before killing six children and a teacher’s aide at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.
OpenAI said it banned an account belonging to Van Rootselaar after employees raised concerns about her interactions with ChatGPT in June 2025, but officials decided not to report the account to law enforcement.
The company said it later discovered a second account created after the original account was banned, and both accounts have now been referred to RCMP.
OpenAI vice-president of global policy Anne O’Leary said in a letter to Canadian federal ministers that under the company’s updated safety policies, Van Rootselaar’s interactions with ChatGPT would have been referred to police if they were discovered today.
B.C. Premier David Eby has previously said OpenAI may have had an opportunity to prevent the tragedy.
Eby and Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka met last week with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Eby said Altman has committed to working with B.C. officials to deliver an apology to the community.
B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma said Tuesday it’s too early to say whether the province would take any legal action against OpenAI, but she left the door open to it.
Peace River South MLA Larry Neufeld said he supports Edmond’s lawsuit.
“Whatever solace we can provide for that family, I will support,” said Neufeld.
OpenAI has not commented on the lawsuit but said in a statement the company is doing all it can to support the ongoing investigation.
