Teenage survivor sues Omnilert over AI gun detection failure in Nashville shooting
Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools spent more than $1 million on the system, which failed to activate during the January 2025 attack that killed two people.
A teenage survivor of a January 2025 school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, has initiated legal proceedings against Omnilert and System Integrations in Davidson County court. The lawsuit alleges that Omnilert’s artificial intelligence gun detection system failed to identify the handgun used in the attack, which resulted in two fatalities, including that of the shooter. The plaintiff contends that the company oversold the technology’s capabilities and disregarded known operational limitations, such as camera placement, lighting conditions, and weapon visibility.
Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) approved a contract worth more than $1 million in 2023 to integrate the AI detection layer into its district-wide camera network. Following the incident, MNPS spokesperson Sean Braisted stated that the system did not activate because the shooter’s position relative to the cameras meant the imagery was not close enough for an accurate visual read. The district argued that the distance prevented the system from triggering an alarm.
The legal filing cites marketing copy from Omnilert’s website, preserved on the Internet Archive just days before the shooting, alleging that the company made no mention of false alarms, false positives, or detection limitations. The lawsuit notes that Omnilert’s commercial materials claimed its AI-powered visual gun detection could have mitigated or prevented tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, invoking a previous mass shooting to demonstrate the product’s purported efficacy.
Omnilert cofounder Ara Bagdasarian declined Ars Technica’s invitation to comment on the lawsuit. System Integrations, the reseller of the Omnilert system and co-defendant in the case, also did not respond to requests for comment. The plaintiff’s attorney, Chris Smith, described this as the first lawsuit of its kind brought against Omnilert or a similar company regarding AI gun detection failure.
Smith expressed significant skepticism about the reliability of the technology, comparing it to Tesla’s self-driving features and traditional metal detectors. He stated that he believed the technology was not ready for prime time and questioned the decision to entrust student safety to such systems. Education and security expert David Riedman, who maintains the K-12 School Shooting Database, noted that he has never seen a school shooting where there was a lack of notification, suggesting that funds spent on detection systems could have been better allocated to counsellors or crisis intervention services.
The lawsuit was first reported by WSMV in Nashville. The legal action seeks to hold the technology providers accountable for alleged misrepresentations of their product’s performance in critical security scenarios.
