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April 28, 2026 ~ Retired Detroit Police Assistant Chief Steve Dolunt reacts to OpenAI’s CEO apologizing for not alerting police sooner about suspicious activity tied to a February mass shooting, and discusses the public safety implications surrounding AI and law enforcement.
BRITISH COLUMBIA, CA ~ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent a public apology late last week to a small Canadian community for not sending warning signs to Canadian authorities about a resident who went on a rampage in the community.
Back in February, Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, killed her mother and brother in their home in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. She then went and killed five children and a teacher at the nearby Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot.
Warning signs were seen months earlier, though, when OpenAI banned her ChatGPT account the prior June for violating policies related to violent activities. Prompts put into the chatbot by Van Rootselaar created internal debates with OpenAI staff about whether the police should be notified about the person behind the account, but ultimately decided not to, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
British Columbia Premier David Eby shared a letter from Altman last week, where the CEO wrote, “I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June. While I know words can never be enough, I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreversible loss your community has suffered.
“I reaffirm the commitment I made to the Mayor and the Premier to find ways to prevent tragedies like this in the future,” he continued. “Going forward, our focus will continue to be on working with all levels of government to help ensure something like this never happens again.”
A family of a victim from the Tumbler Ridge shooting filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in March for failing to alert authorities about the shooter.
