Shooter dead after attack at Youtube
UNITED STATES: A woman opened fire with a handgun yesterday in a courtyard at Youtube headquarters, wounding three people before fatally shooting herself in what is being investigated as a domestic dispute, authorities said.
Terrified employees huddled inside, calling 911, as officers and federal agents swarmed the company’s suburban campus sandwiched between two interstates in the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Bruno.
Youtube employee Dianna Arnspiger said she was on the building’s second floor when she heard gunshots, ran to a window and saw the shooter on a patio outside.
She said the woman wore glasses and a scarf and was using a ‘‘big huge pistol’’.
‘‘It was a woman and she was firing her gun. And I just said, ‘Shooter,’ and everybody started running,’’ Arnspiger said.
She and others hid in a conference room for an hour while another employee repeatedly called 911 for updates.
‘‘It was terrifying,’’ she said. Authorities gave few details about the shooter and victims, except that the gunfire was being investigated as a domestic dispute, two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation said.
A 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition, a spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital said.
Witnesses described terror before officers arrived and discovered a victim near a front door and then found the shooter several minutes later with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said.
He said two additional gunshot victims were found at an adjacent business minutes later.
Youtube’s headquarters has more than 1000 engineers and other employees in several buildings. Originally built in the late 1990s for the clothing retailer Gap, the campus south of San Francisco is known for its sloped green roof of native grasses.
Inside, Google famously outfitted the office several years ago with a three-lane red slide for workers to zoom from one storey to another.
‘‘Today it feels like the entire community of Youtube, all of the employees, were victims of this crime,’’ said Youtube spokesman Chris Dale. ‘‘Our hearts go out to all those who suffered.’’ – AP