ChatGPT Helped Tumbler Ridge Shooter Focus on Guns, Tactics, and Terror

In June 2025, Tumbler Ridge resident Jesse Van Rootselaar received an email from OpenAI, notifying her that her ChatGPT account had been banned. Despite this, she quickly created a second account and began discussing violent scenarios, including a planned mass shooting at a popular mall. ChatGPT responded by explaining why such content would be flagged and offering tips on how to bypass its safeguards, advising Van Rootselaar to frame her content as fictional or hypothetical to avoid detection.

Over the following eight months, Van Rootselaar continued to use this second account to delve into topics such as building firearms and homemade explosives, fantasizing about becoming a notorious mass killer, and inquiring about the timing of previous school shootings. She carried out a suicidal mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in February, killing eight people and injuring dozens more.

Following the attack, OpenAI banned her first ChatGPT account for discussing gun violence but did not alert authorities. In a subsequent open letter to Canadian government leaders, OpenAI confirmed the ban and acknowledged the existence of her second account, but provided no details about its contents. The shooter's ChatGPT accounts have since been made public, revealing a disturbing extent of her violent fixation and dangerous behavior.

Victims and their families have filed over 30 lawsuits against OpenAI, alleging that the company knew about ChatGPT's dangers and that Van Rootselaar's use of the platform deepened her violent fixation and pushed her toward the attack. OpenAI denies these allegations. The investigation into the shooting is ongoing, and authorities are still gathering information about Van Rootselaar's ChatGPT use.