A shooting took place at the YouTube headquarters around 1 p.m. on April 3. The suspect, Nasim Najafi Aghdam wounded three people with a handgun, leaving one in critical condition. Shortly after, she ended her own life.
According to CNN, Aghdam’s brother had informed the authorities that his sister was possibly planning something against YouTube. He stated that she was not answering her phone and was reported as missing as of March 31.
Her YouTube channel consisted of videos regarding animal cruelty and vegan cooking. She contacted YouTube in regards to the restrictions placed on her videos and YouTube decided that the content was inappropriate and was restricted for younger audiences, which affected the views on her videos.
She posted some videos on her Facebook page talking about how she felt that YouTube was not treating her fair and these videos were getting demonetized. After the shooting, YouTube quickly deleted Aghdam’s channel.
The location of YouTube headquarters is approximately 10 miles from San Francisco. There are currently 1,100 people working at the headquarters in San Bruno, CA. It is unclear as to if the shooter actually knew the victims she shot, however it was reported that she could have possibly known one. Most of the employees thought that it was actually just a fire drill and did not realize it was an actual shooting.
When the alarm went off Zach Vorhies, a senior software engineer, took his electric skateboard and was riding down the path when he saw someone laying on the ground and said that there was a blood stain on his shirt. This victim was the one that suffered the most extreme injuries.
After the shooting, the employees at YouTube were searched by the police as an extra precaution. The shooting took place in the the courtyard area of the building. In this area of the building there is low security, and people get access to doors just by an access card. There was a crowd of about 200 people standing near the location and police had to get through the crowd to secure the area.
Aghdam’s motives for going to YouTube headquarters are still unknown. Her brother mentioned to the police that she had made it known that she was unhappy with current YouTube policies and guidelines. It could also be because of the restrictions that YouTube put on her own channel.
Paige Rogers
Reporter