Shooter Injures Three at YouTube Headquarters in California2 min read

A woman shot and injured three people before killing herself at the headquarters of YouTube in San Bruno, California on Tuesday.

The San Bruno Police Department have identified the shooter as 39-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam, a resident of San Diego.

Authorities are still working to figure out the details of the attack. As of now, it has not been established whether Aghdam knew the people she shot or what her motive was.

“We know very, very little right now, and we probably won’t know more until tomorrow morning,” said San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini.

Aghdam ran a variety of YouTube channels as well as her own website. The channels have been deleted, but some of their content is leading investigators to believe that Aghdam was angry with YouTube for filtering her videos so that they would get fewer views.

According to police and eyewitness reports, Aghdam approached an outdoor dining area and started shooting with a handgun just before 1 p.m. local time at the headquarters, about 10 miles south of San Francisco.

Some workers began to flee the building when they heard gunshots, while others barricaded themselves inside. A few employees tweeted about the attack as it was happening.

“We were sitting in a meeting and then we heard people running because it was rumbling the floor. First thought it was earthquake,” tweeted product manager Todd Sherman.

“Active shooter at YouTube HQ. Heard shots and saw people running while at my desk. Now barricaded inside a room with coworkers,” tweeted YouTube employee Vadim Lavrusik.

The three victims were rushed to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. They have not yet been identified, but the hospital released that they are a 36-year-old man in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition.

A fourth person who suffered an ankle injury while trying to escape was also brought to the hospital.

Aghdam’s attack is unusual in that the vast majority of “active shooter” incidents are perpetrated by men. According to an FBI report, just six of the 160 such incidents that took place in the US between 2010 and 2013 had female shooters.

The San Bruno Police Department scheduled a press conference for 9 a.m. local time (2 p.m. GMT) on Wednesday to share any new information they have gathered with the public.

Photo by Jack Finnigan on Unsplash