A report from the Wall Street Journal reveals that OpenAI knew about the transgender who opened fire at a residence and Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia.
The transgender alleged shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
According to WSJ, while using ChatGBT in June, Rootselaar “described scenarios involving gun violence over the course of several days, according to people familiar with the matter.”
WSJ added:
Internally, about a dozen staffers debated whether to take action on Van Rootselaar’s posts. Some employees interpreted Van Rootselaar’s writings as an indication of potential real-world violence, and urged leaders to alert Canadian law enforcement about her behavior, the people familiar with the matter said. OpenAI leaders ultimately decided not to contact authorities.
On February 10, 2026, Rootselaar carried out the attack, killing eight innocents and wounding 25 others.
Futurism noted, “We’ve known since last year that OpenAI is scanning users’ conversations for signs that they’re planning a violent crime, though it’s not clear whether it’s yet successfully headed off an incident before it happened.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
