A woman opened fire at YouTube's headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area Tuesday, wounding three people before she shot and killed herself and prompted panic as employees hid and tried to flee, police and witnesses said.
A woman opened fire at YouTube’s headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area Tuesday, wounding three people before she shot and killed herself and prompted panic as employees hid and tried to flee, police and witnesses said. ABC News identified the shooter as Nasim Aghdam. Aghdam allegedly has a website with a manifesto that targets YouTube for censorship and demonetization of her video content. The federal officials told ABC News that the victim in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital is believed to be the intended target of the shooting. The other victims were apparently unintended victims. Federal officials told ABC News it does not appear to be related to terrorism. Aghdam is said to have no relationship with anyone in the YouTube facility. Sources say Aghdam did not have an ID badge but was carrying a purse. Nobody in the facility knew who she was. They added that Aghdam got off 30 or 40 shots before turning the gun on herself. According to her website, a possible motivation for the shooting could have been tied to her many YouTube accounts, which she says have seen a decline in viewership over the past few months. Officers and federal agents swarmed the company’s headquarters complex in the city of San Bruno as multiple 911 reports came in reporting gunfire. San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini initially told reporters Tuesday that four people were wounded by gunshots. He later clarified that one person who was taken to the hospital had a twisted ankle or similar injury but wasn’t shot. Brent Andrew, a spokesperson at San Francisco General Hospital, says they’re treating three people – a 36-year-old man in critical condition and two women, ages 32 and 27, who are in serious and fair condition. Barberini said one victim was found near the entrance, and two others were injured at a nearby business. Television news footage showed people leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air for police to inspect as they were leaving the building. Officers patted down people to make sure none had weapons, and police vehicles surrounded the areaYouTube employee Vadim Lavrusik posted on Twitter that he heard gunshots and saw people running. He said he was barricaded in a room with his co-workers before being safely evacuated. Will Hudson said a friend who works for YouTube texted him about the shooter.”I think there might be a shooter in my building,” read one text. “The fire alarm went off so we started to evacuate and then people (started) running saying there was a shooter.”Northern California’s Stanford Hospital said it has received four to five patients, but a hospital spokeswoman did not have information on their conditions or their wounds. Google, which owns the world’s biggest online video website, posted on Twitter that the company is coordinating with authorities. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also said it responded to the shooting at YouTube’s suburban campus. The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on a shooting and that officials were monitoring it. Hudson said his friend made it safely back to San Francisco and was in contact with his family. Hudson said he’s become used to hearing about gun violence but has never been so close to it before.”It just feels strange. It feels like it could really be anyone. That’s really the strangeness of it,” he said. Calls and emails to YouTube representatives seeking comment were not immediately returned. An eyewitness said he was working at YouTube when the alarm went off at the building. He left the facility on his skateboard, and went through the outdoor plaza, where he saw at least one person on the ground with what he believed to be a gunshot wound.”When you see someone with a shot to the stomach, you expect the worst but pray for the best,” he said. Employees were evacuated with arms overhead, and the campus is flanked with dozens of police cars and emergency vehicles. The mother of a 30-year-old YouTube employee shared texts messages from her son with ABC7 News. He texted his mother that he was eating lunch at an outdoor courtyard when shots rang out around 12:50 p.m. He told her he was hiding in a bush and was “safe for now.”People nearby the campus have posted photos and information from the scene on social media, showing police cars surrounding the facility. About 1,700 people work at the campus.
