New lawsuits allege OpenAI executives overrode safety team's recommendation to alert police before Canadian school shooting

The new complaints, filed by attorney Jay Edelson, build on an earlier set of April 2026 lawsuits brought by families of seven victims. Those earlier suits alleged OpenAI failed to notify law enforcement of the alleged shooter's violent ChatGPT conversations; Wednesday's filings add the allegation that OpenAI's global affairs team — not its safety professionals — made the final call on whether to alert police.

According to the complaints, OpenAI's Intelligence and Investigations team reviewed Van Rootselaar's flagged conversations and determined they "posed a credible threat of gun violence against real people," recommending the company alert the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The new filings allege that recommendation was overruled by the company's global affairs team, led by chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane, a veteran political strategist whose responsibilities include public relations, public policy, and political relationships. One complaint, filed by 7th grade teacher Deidre Rushlow, states the decision was made "by Lehane himself, or by someone in his chain of command, and ratified by Sam Altman." Lehane is not named as a defendant.

OpenAI disputed the characterization of its internal decision-making. Jason Kwon, the company's chief strategy officer, said in a statement to NPR that it is "absolutely false" that Lehane was involved in the referral decision or that investigators report to him. Kwon said OpenAI's Intelligence and Investigations team and legal department report to him directly, and that the teams work with mental health, behavioral, and law enforcement experts to set reporting standards. He added: "It's also completely untrue to say that the people at the center of these challenging decisions do not prioritize safety, or that there are 'political' or 'public relations' factors at play."