Last night – in the US it was lunch time – a women entered YouTube headquarters and shot at employees.
Last night – in the US it was lunch time – a women entered YouTube headquarters and shot at employees. Although we have heard of school and college campus shooting in the US, this time it was at the office of a major technology companies. If you are waking up to this news, here is a quick summary of what has happened.
– The YouTube shooting incident happened at San Bruno, where the video streaming site has its headquarters. This is near San Francisco. The shooting incident took place, according Google CEO Sundar Pichai, when “employees were having lunch”. He called the incident a unimaginable tragedy.
– The shooter has been identified as Nasim Aghdam, a 39-year-old from Middle East. She killed herself after wounding three YouTube employees.
– All three wounded YouTube employees are undergoing treatment at a local hospital. One of them, a 36-year-old man, is said to be in critical condition. Of the other two, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition while another, a 27-year-old woman, was in fair condition.
– Nasim allegedly had two YouTube accounts and she was unhappy with YouTube because she believed the company was discriminating against her videos and throttling their reach. She said so in a video. Nasim was a vegan and made a music video against eating meat.
– One of Nasim’s YouTube channel NasimWonder1 has been suspended by YouTube for violating the terms and conditions.
– In this hour of tragedy, YouTube employees have received support from all quarters. From US president Donald Trump to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella have tweeted. “On behalf of all of Microsoft, our hearts are with everyone at YouTube and Google today and all those affected,” said Satya Nadella.
– The news about the shooting at the YouTube first surfaced on Twitter as YouTube employees talked of a shooter that was inside their campus. “Active shooter at YouTube HQ. Heard shots and saw people running while at my desk. Now barricaded inside a room with coworkers,” tweeted one employee around 1.3am India time.
– The woman shooter allegedly used a handgun and not assault rifles that have been used in several other shooting incidents in the US of late. If there would have been assault rifle, the incident could have been worse.
– The Twitter account of a YouTube employee was hacked hours after the incident and was used to spread misinformation. “We’re also aware of the misinformation being spread on Twitter,” Jack Dorsey, the chief executive of Twitter, tweeted. “We’re tracking, learning, and taking action.”
