On April 3, 2018, at 12:46 p.m. PDT, a shooting attack occurred at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California, which is 12 miles (19 kilometres) south of San Francisco, United States. The suspect was later identified as a 38-year-old woman, Nasim Najafi Aghdam. She entered through an exterior parking garage, approached an outdoor patio and opened fire with a Smith & Wesson 9 mm caliber semi-automatic pistol. Aghdam wounded three people, one of them critically, before fatally shooting herself.
San Bruno police said that "the investigation is now looking into a website that appears to show the same woman complaining about YouTube stifling traffic and suppressing videos."
The shooting was a rare example of an active shooter incident committed solely by a woman; a 2014 FBI study reported that women perpetrated just six out of 160 active shooter incidents in the United States between 2000 and 2013.
Video YouTube headquarters shooting
Shooting
At 12:46 p.m., San Bruno police received reports of a shooter at the YouTube headquarters. Aghdam's weapon had a capacity of 10 rounds, and she emptied one magazine before reloading. Aghdam took her own life with a gunshot wound to her head, two days shy of her 39th birthday. Helicopter footage later showed a large hole and broken glass in the building's lobby doors. Initial reports incorrectly described the shooting as that of a scorned lover in a domestic dispute shooting her boyfriend.
The San Mateo County Sheriff and local San Bruno Police responded to the scene, and advised the public to keep out of the area. Multiple YouTube employees posted on Twitter and Snapchat to share live ongoing updates from the headquarters.
Maps YouTube headquarters shooting
Perpetrator
The perpetrator was identified by police as Nasim Najafi Aghdam (Persian: ???? ???? ?????; April 5, 1979 - April 3, 2018), a vegan activist and bodybuilder. She was born in Urmia, Iran, and immigrated to the United States with her family in 1996. She was a registered member of the Bahá'í Faith and described how veganism was aligned with her religion but was critical of Middle Eastern cultural practices and Muslims and Bahá'ís who ate animals. She was 38 years old and lived with her grandmother in Riverside County, California. She posted content on Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and YouTube in Persian, Azerbaijani, English and Turkish. Her content went viral on Iranian social media and drew widespread attention. She had previously protested with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals against the use of pigs in United States Marine Corps training procedures for victims of trauma.
Nasim Aghdam legally purchased and registered a 9mm Smith & Wesson semiautomatic pistol from a San Diego gun dealer on January 16, 2018. On March 31, 2018, Aghdam's family reported to the police that Nasim Aghdam was missing, According to her father, she "hated" YouTube, and the family was worried she might be traveling to the company's offices.
The morning before the shooting, police officers contacted Aghdam when they found her sleeping in her car in a Walmart parking lot in Mountain View, 25 miles south of YouTube's headquarters. The officers did not identify her as a threat. It is not clear if these police officers were aware of the concerns of Aghdam's father. Aghdam visited a shooting range the day before the shooting.
Motive
Police believe Aghdam was motivated by her displeasure at the policies and procedures of censorship of the YouTube channels that she maintained. She complained about YouTube on her website, writing "Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!", and that the company had demonetized most of her videos.
On January 16, 2018, YouTube raised eligibility requirement for earning money, from 4,000 hours of watchtime per lifetime, to 10,000 within the past 12 months, a move which forced out Aghdam and other small content creators. Two days after the YouTube policy change, Aghdam purchased the handgun eventually used in the shooting.
Victims
Two hospitals, the San Francisco General Hospital and the Stanford University Medical Center, treated the victims from the incident. Four injuries were reported. The identified victims are a 36-year-old man in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman in fair condition, and a 27-year-old woman in stable condition. Another person injured her ankle while fleeing the building.
Reactions
President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and tweeted "Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene." Other notable politicians who tweeted their condolences include Vice President Mike Pence, Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Senator Dianne Feinstein.
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki wrote on Twitter: "There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter @YouTube today. Our deepest gratitude to law enforcement & first responders for their rapid response. Our hearts go out to all those injured & impacted today. We will come together to heal as a family." Google CEO Sundar Pichai echoed these sentiments on Twitter, and sent an email to his employees describing the shooting as an "unimaginable tragedy" and a "horrific act of violence." Tim Cook and Jeff Bezos, the CEOs of Apple, and Amazon respectively, also offered their condolences. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, and Box CEO Aaron Levie called for stricter gun control legislation.
The Baha'i National Center condemned the shooting by Aghdam and extended condolences to individuals hurt by this event.
References
External links
- Aghdam's homepage
- Aghdam's homepage and Dailymotion.com profile (WARC at Internet Archive)
- Internet Archive item containing Aghdam's dailymotion.com videos
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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