ChatGPT has confirmed that an account connected with the Tumbler Ridge shooter, Jesse VanRootelsar, was identified in June 2025 for “abuse and detection and enforcement efforts.”
VanRootelsar shot and killed eight people on Feb. 10 — her mother and half-brother at their home and then five students and an educator at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. She was then found dead of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside the school, RCMP later confirmed.
“Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the Tumbler Ridge tragedy,” a spokesperson for OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT, confirmed on Friday afternoon, adding that after the incident on Feb. 10, the company contacted the RCMP.
“We proactively reached out to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with information on the individual and their use of ChatGPT, and we’ll continue to support their investigation.”
The organization stated that when an account associated with VanRootelsar was identified in June, it was subsequently banned for violating the usage policy.
The company considered referring the account to law enforcement, but determined that the account activity did not meet the higher threshold required for such a referral.
They determined that the case did not meet the threshold for referring a user to law enforcement because it did not involve an imminent and credible risk or planning of serious physical harm to others.
In a statement, RCMP Staff Sgt. Kris Clark said the platform did reach out to the RCMP after the shooting.
“As part of the investigation, digital and physical evidence is being collected, prioritized, and methodically processed,” he said. “This includes a thorough review of the content on electronic devices, as well as social media and online activities.”
OpenAI said that its goal is to support people’s safety and well-being and over-enforcement in these situations can be distressing for a young person and their family, for example, if police show up unannounced at their door.
The company says it trains ChatGPT to discourage imminent real-world harm when it identifies a dangerous situation and instead is trained to provide advice to avoid any result of immediate physical harm.
VanRootelsar’s online activity has already been in the spotlight following the deadly mass shooting.
Online platforms YouTube and Roblox each shared statements with Global News last Friday.
“Following this horrific incident, our Trust and Safety teams identified and removed a YouTube channel associated with the alleged suspect in accordance with our Creator Responsibility Guidelines,” YouTube said in a written statement.
Roblox, which is a social gaming platform and creation system where millions of users play, create and socialize in virtual worlds called “experiences,” also said it deleted an account.
“We have removed the user account connected to this horrifying incident as well as any content associated with the suspect. We are committed to fully supporting law enforcement in their investigation,” a Roblox spokesperson said in a written statement.
“The user’s account and any content created by the user was removed from Roblox on Feb. 11, 2026.”
Meanwhile, a former RCMP weapons officer says guns in a photo posted by VanRootselaar’s mother all appear to have been legal to own in Canada at the time, although they include a semi-automatic rifle that was later prohibited.
Jennifer Jacobs posted the photo of guns in a cabinet to Facebook in August 2024 with the caption, “Think it’s time to take them out for some target practice.”
Jacobs and her 11-year-old son were among eight people killed in the shooting.
VanRootselaar’s father issued a statement last week saying in part: ” As the biological father of the individual responsible, I carry a sorrow that is difficult to put into words. I was estranged from Jesse Strang and was not part of his life. His mother declined my involvement from the beginning, and I was not given the opportunity to be a part of raising him. Jesse did not use the VanRootselaar family name at any point in his life. While that distance is the reality of our relationship, it does not lessen the heartbreak I feel for the pain that has been caused to innocent people and to the town we call home.”
RCMP identified the shooter as “Jesse Van Rootselaar” and said she was assigned male at birth but had started transitioning to a female.
Global News is spelling the surname as VanRootselaar to match the father’s spelling of the last name.
–with files from Ariel Rabinovitch and The Canadian Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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