School shooting survivor sues AI gun detection firm after system failed to spot weapon - Ars Technica

Skip to content

AI

Biz & IT

Cars

Culture

Gaming

Health

Policy

Science

Security

Space

Tech

Forum

Subscribe

Story text

Size

Small<br>Standard<br>Large

Width

Standard<br>Wide

Links

Standard<br>Orange

* Subscribers only

Learn more

Pin to story

Theme

Search

Sign In

Sign in dialog...

Text<br>settings

Story text

Size

Small<br>Standard<br>Large

Width

Standard<br>Wide

Links

Standard<br>Orange

* Subscribers only

Learn more

Minimize to nav

The injured teenage survivor of a January 2025 shooting at a Nashville, Tennessee high school recently sued the manufacturer of an “AI gun detection” system that failed to detect the handgun that left two dead, including the shooter.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed in Davidson County court last month, the security company Omnilert either knew or should have known that there were “significant operational limitations in its gun detection system that could result in detection failures during actual emergencies, including limitations based on camera placement, proximity of the weapon to camera sensors, camera angle, lighting, and weapon visibility.”

Omnilert cofounder Ara Bagdasarian declined Ars’ invitation to answer questions about the lawsuit. System Integrations, the other defendant in the case, which resold the Omnilert system, also did not respond to Ars’ request for comment.

In 2023, the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Board approved a contract worth over $1 million to install an AI detection layer on top of its district-wide network of cameras and related security infrastructure.

MNPS spokesperson Sean Braisted said in a press conference following the January 2025 shooting that due to where the shooter was in relation to the cameras, the imagery “wasn’t close enough to get an accurate read and to activate that alarm.”

The lawsuit frequently cites from marketing copy on Omnilert’s own website (as preserved on the Internet Archive just days before the shooting), alleging that the company oversold its capabilities:

Omnilert further represented that AI-powered visual gun detection “could have mitigated or prevented tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School” by identifying threats earlier—invoking one of the nation’s most devastating school shootings to convey that its product would prevent similar tragedies…

Omnilert made no mention of false alarms, false positives, or detection limitations of any kind on its pre-shooting commercial website.

Using a specific set of situational conditions under which the detection system is effective is questionable, Chris Smith, one of the plaintiff’s attorneys, told Ars.

Smith was skeptical when he first heard about the concept of AI gun detection.

“I just thought that it was kind of bullshit. I have a Tesla, and I think Tesla’s self-driving is bullshit,” he said. “It’s not ready for prime time! How could you possibly be entrusting of that? That’s your plan to protect kids from school shootings? Why is this any better than a metal detector?”

Some critics have raised concerns similar to Smith’s, noting that such public money could have gone elsewhere.

“I’ve never seen a school shooting where there was a lack of notification,” said David Riedman, an education and security expert who maintains the K-12 School Shooting Database.

The money that MNPS spent on deploying these detection systems, he added, “could have gone to a counselor or something else to a kid in crisis. Every decision that you make is pointing away resources from something else.”

Smith also said that, to his knowledge, this is the first lawsuit of its kind brought against Omnilert or a similar company.

“I thought it was important beyond Mr. Hanin’s own injuries to raise awareness of the whole situation,” he said.

The lawsuit was first reported by WSMV in Nashville.

69 Comments

Comments

Forum view

Loading comments...

Prev story

1.<br>S&P 500 rejects SpaceX, also blocking entry for OpenAI and Anthropic

2.<br>Scientists ejected from diabetes conference for distributing journal reprints

3.<br>Small modular nuclear reactor reaches criticality in first test

4.<br>Safety officials finally have a good idea of what a big rocket explosion can do

5.<br>How a USB-connected speaker can infect a PC without ever being touched

Customize