Three shot in YouTube office attack
SAN BRUNO, California — Gunfire erupted at YouTube’s offices in California on Tuesday, leaving three people wounded by gunshots and sparking a panicked escape before the suspected shooter — a woman — apparently committed suicide.
Two law enforcement officials identified the suspect as Nasim Aghdam of Southern California. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.
YouTube had “stopped everything”, and “she was angry”, her father Ismail Aghdam said from his San Diego home in a telephone interview with the Bay Area News Group.
People who post on YouTube can receive money from advertisements that accompany their videos, but the company “demonetizes” some channels for reasons including inappropriate material or having fewer than 1,000 subscribers.
Authorities said the shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute.
Shootings by women are a rare occurrence in the United States, where the overwhelming majority of gun violence is carried out by men.
According to an FBI study that looked at 160 incidents involving one or more shooters in public places between 2000 and 2013, just six of the people who opened fire were women, or 3.8 percent.
Terrified employees huddled inside, calling 911, as officers and federal agents swarmed the company’s suburban campus sandwiched between two interstate freeways in 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,” she said.
A 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-yearold woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition.