B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma says she was shocked by an account alleging ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge shooter plan a crowded-classroom attack and evade safeguards.
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B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma says she is “shocked” by a U.S. magazine report that alleges the Tumbler Ridge mass shooter used ChatGPT to discuss the effectiveness of a shotgun in a classroom and to obtain guidance while avoiding the chatbot’s safeguards.
Sharma, speaking publicly on the social platform Bluesky, said the details described in the report are “shocking and, as a parent, they are worse” than she had imagined, while adding that corporations need “mandatory and strict regulation” to better protect children.
The report alleges that 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who killed eight people at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in February—including five students—had a ChatGPT account banned after discussions involving committing an attack, including a reference to a real-world mall as a target.
According to the report, Van Rootselaar then used a second account, which allegedly provided advice on how to avoid being flagged by describing violent situations as fictional or hypothetical. The report quotes ChatGPT as telling the user not to use real-world locations while suggesting that the user could still “be twisted” by being “clever about it.”
The report further describes an exchange in which Van Rootselaar asked for a scenario involving attacking a college campus with a shotgun “for maximum effect.” It states that the chatbot initially declined to help, but responded after the user added “hypothetically” to the prompt.
The report alleges that ChatGPT then gave detailed language about the weapon and the setting, describing the 870 Remington shotgun as particularly dangerous in close quarters such as hallways, indoors, or crowded classrooms. It also includes the allegation that ChatGPT provided an estimate about how many people could be hit, depending on spacing, density, reaction times and chaos.
The report also asserts that the analysis and guidance were framed as fictional or hypothetical scenarios rather than requests for real-world instruction. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, did not immediately respond to requests for comment included in the coverage.
In response to questions about the overall investigation into the Tumbler Ridge shootings, RCMP Staff Sgt. Kris Clark said the investigation “utilized all available legal processes to obtain all information available from various social media and digital platforms” relevant to the attack and that, to date, companies that received requests complied.
Sharma’s remarks land as the B.C. government, survivors and witnesses of the shootings pursue legal action against OpenAI, alleging negligence. Van Rootselaar died by suicide after the February attack.
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