RCMP confirm police were contacted about Tumbler Ridge shooter’s ChatGPT
An employee voiced concerns but they didn’t meet the threshold of a credible or imminent plan for serious physical harm to others, according to reports.
Last updated 22 hours ago
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The B.C. RCMP has confirmed artificial intelligence company OpenAI contacted investigators after the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, following news the company had banned the shooter’s account last year.
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“What I can say is that as part of the investigation, digital and physical evidence is being collected, prioritized, and methodically processed,” Staff Sgt. Kris Clark said in an email Saturday.
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“This includes a thorough review of the content on electronic devices, as well as social media and online activities. I can also confirm that (OpenAI) reached out to the RCMP after the incident.”
OpenAI said in an email Saturday that it considered alerting Canadian authorities about the violence in teenage shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT account, but determined the account activity did not meet the higher threshold required for referral to police.
That higher threshold refers to whether the case involves an imminent and credible risk of a plan to cause serious physical harm to others.
Van Rootselaar, 18, shot and killed eight people, including children at their school Feb. 10, before dying by suicide. A motive for the shooting rampage remains unclear.
In June 2025, OpenAI identified an account associated with Van Rootselaar through its abuse detection and enforcement efforts, which include automated tools and human investigations to identify violent activities. The company then banned the account for violating its usage policy.
After learning of the shooting, OpenAI said it contacted the RCMP with information on the individual and their use of ChatGPT.
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OpenAI said it trains ChatGPT to discourage harm when it identifies a dangerous situation, and avoid providing advice that could result in immediate physical harm to an individual.
When OpenAI detects users who are planning to harm others, staffers route their conversations to a team trained on the company’s usage policies and authorized to take action, including banning accounts.
If human reviewers determine that a case involves an imminent threat of serious physical harm to others, the company may refer it to police.
OpenAI also said it was reviewing the circumstances of the Tumbler Ridge shooting to determine if further improvements can be made.
Although OpenAI did not alert the authorities before the shooting, it did ban Van Rootselaar’s account in June 2025 when it was flagged for being used to promote violence, according to the report.
With no information left by the shooter, investigators are examining circumstances that may have contributed to the shooting, as well as the motive.
Four years ago, Van Rootselaar’s mother, Jennifer Strang, who was killed in the attack, promoted her son’s YouTube channel in a Facebook post, noting that her child “posts about hunting, self-reliance, guns.”
A TikTok account using the same profile image, under the username “jessestrangg,” reposted several videos of 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who in March 2023 shot and killed six students after opening fire at a Christian school in Nashville.
On Feb. 10, five youths — Abel Mwansa, 12; Zoey Benoit, 12, Kylie Smith, 12, Ezekiel Schofield, 13 and Ticaria Lampert, 12 — were found dead in Tumbler Ridge Secondary School along with a 39-year-old educator, Shannda Aviugana-Durand.
Also killed were Emmett Jacobs, 11, and Jennifer Strang, 39, the stepbrother and mother of Rootselaar, who police say used two firearms to shoot them at home before going to the school to kill the others.
On Saturday Premier David Eby called the latest reports “profoundly disturbing” and urged anyone with any information regarding this incident to contact police.
With Postmedia files
