Shooter visited YouTube to ask about job earlier
The disgruntled video-maker who shot three people and killed herself at YouTube’s San Bruno headquarters in April visited the company’s campus a day earlier and inquired about a job, authorities said.
Nasim Aghdam, 39, entered YouTube’s campus on April 3 and fired a 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol at employees who were on their lunch breaks. Since then, law enforcement officials have been piecing together the events that led up to the shooting and released new details Thursday evening about Aghdam’s movements before she shot herself in the chest.
On April 2 at 12:40 p.m., police said, Aghdam visited YouTube for about 10 minutes and “spoke with employees at the site.” She asked for directions to the main office and went to the front desk where “she inquired about employment,” San Bruno police said in a written account.
This is the first time law enforcement has revealed that Aghdam visited the campus before
the April 3 shooting. The statement also disclosed new details about her actions in the moments just before she opened fire.
On her arrival at YouTube, she walked to a courtyard between the YouTube building and a parking structure, wearing a leopard-print scarf and large sunglasses. There an employee immediately asked her for her ID badge.
“Aghdam ignored the employee, reached into her purse with her right hand and removed a pistol,” according to the police account. “Upon seeing the pistol, the YouTube employee immediately fled and dialed 911.”
Gun in hand, officials said, Aghdam walked through the courtyard “and began firing indiscriminately into a crowd of employees eating lunch.” YouTube workers scattered in all directions, running for the exits and some even hiding in trees, according to police logs of the incident.
Aghdam shot three employees, including a man who suffered a serious chest wound, according to police records. All three victims, and a fourth person who suffered an injured ankle, have been released from the hospital.
Aghdam had been railing against YouTube for months, relatives said. She believed the website had taken down some of her videos about animal abuse and exercise regimens. She also said the company was preventing her from making money on her videos by limiting traffic to her page.
“There is no equal
growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to !!!!! ” Aghdam wrote on her website. “Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!”
On April 2, Aghdam was reported missing from her family’s home in Menifee (Riverside County).
About 11 hours before the shooting, Mountain View police officers found her sleeping in her car and spoke to her. They discovered a missing persons report on her and later notified Aghdam’s family. Mountain View police have previously released bodycamera footage of that encounter, noting that she did not appear to pose any threat to herself or the public.
Following the shooting, Aghdam’s family claimed that they warned police in a follow-up call that she was upset with YouTube for censoring her videos.
The Mountain View Police Department then issued a statement saying the family 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.”
A little more than an hour before the shooting, police said, Aghdam went to the Jackson Arms Shooting Range in South San Francisco, where she practiced firing a pistol for almost 30 minutes before leaving at 11:39 a.m.
San Bruno police said that there is no evidence that Aghdam had any partners in planning or committing the shooting.
“The primary motive for this crime is believed to be Aghdam’s displeasure with YouTube business practices,” the statement said. “There is no evidence that her actions were intended to support any specific cause or ideology.”