The head of OpenAI says he is deeply sorry that his company didn’t alert law enforcement to worrisome online behaviour of the person in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., before she shot and killed eight people and wounded dozens more earlier this year.
Sam Altman’s letter shared Friday on B.C. Premier David Eby’s social media said that while he knows words can never be enough, he believes “an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreplaceable loss the community has suffered.”
He said in the letter addressed to the community of Tumbler Ridge that the pain it has endured is unimaginable and he has been thinking about them often.
“I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June,” his letter says.
OpenAI came forward after the shooting on Feb. 10 to say that 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar’s worrisome behaviour using its ChatGPT chatbot was flagged by staff at the company, but it didn’t go to police with those concerns.
The company also said later that the killer got around the ban by creating another account.
Police have said that Van Rootselaar killed her mother and half-brother in their home, then went to the high school where she killed five students and a teaching assistant, then herself, devastating the community of about 2,400 people in northeastern B.C.
Altman’s letter relays his deepest condolences to the community, saying “no one should ever have to ensure a tragedy like this.”
“I cannot imagine anything worse in this world than losing a child. My heart remains with the victims, their families and all members of the community and the province of British Columbia,” he said in the letter dated April 23.
Eby said in a social media post on Friday that Altman’s letter to the community is necessary, and yet grossly insufficient for the devastation done to the families of Tumbler Ridge.
He said the province will continue to stand with Mayor Darryl Krakowka and the community.
Police released the shooter’s identity on Feb. 11 and the company asked the provincial government for contact information for the RCMP on Feb. 12.
Eby said that at the time that it looked like OpenAI could have prevented the shooting.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2026.
Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press
