Tragedy struck at YouTube’s headquarters Tuesday when a female shooter walked into the company, shot three civilians and then fatally shot herself.
The shooter has been identified as Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, a vegan activist who ran the NasimeSabz.com website on which she posted Persian culture, fitness, animal cruelty and veganism. She shot into the headquarters at San Bruno, California, hitting three civilians with one in a critical condition and a fourth other who injured an ankle while running. Before the Tuesday incident, she had visited a local gun range in the morning. She had then parked at a nearby business and likely entered YouTube’s campus through a parking garage. A Smith & Wesson 9mm semiautomatic handgun was recovered from the scene.
Her father had said she was furious at YouTube for no longer paying her for her videos and she had posted on her channel that “YouTube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views”. Her father had reported her missing and had warned the police that she might have been heading to YouTube. The Police were questioned about their action concerning the warning and responded that the shooter was addressed by the police early Tuesday morning before the shooting. She had been found sleeping in her car and was described as “calm and cooperative” and gave no indication of her intent after the interaction.
In a released statement by the department, her father did not “mention anything about potential acts of violence or a possibility of Aghdam lashing out as a result of her issues with her videos,” during his warning. San Bruno police chief Ed Barberini said that “We know she was upset with YouTube, and now we’ve determined that was the motive” at a press conference Wednesday.
