Woman shoots three people at Youtube HQ
Staff evacuated from tech giant’s California base after gunwoman opens fire before committing suicide
Youtube’s global headquarters in San Bruno, California, was locked down last night after a woman opened fire, injuring at least three people before killing herself. Police did not suspect terrorism, with reports suggesting that one of the victims was the gunwoman’s boyfriend.
Harriet Alexander
Nick Allen
A WOMAN opened fire at Youtube’s global headquarters in Silicon Valley last night, shooting at least three people before killing herself, police said.
Initial reports suggested that one of the victims was the woman’s boyfriend. The attacker was reportedly dressed in a headscarf. Chief Ed Barberini, of San Bruno police, said the victims suffered “treatable injuries”.
A 32-year-old woman was described as being in a serious condition; a 27-year-old woman was in a fair condition, and a 36-year-old man was described by CNN as being in a critical condition. Two were shot “at an adjacent business”, said Mr Barberini.
He said that the first 911 calls came at 12:46pm and his officers were on the scene two minutes later.
“Upon arriving, officers found a chaotic situation with employees streaming out of the building,” he said.
“We did encounter one victim with an apparent gunshot wound towards the front of the building as we arrived.
“Several minutes later, while conducting a search of the premises, officers located a second individual with a gunshot wound that appeared to be self-inflicted. There were two more at an adjacent business.”
An employee at a nearby Carl’s Jr fast food restaurant said one of the victims came in after being shot. He told KTVU the female victim had a gunshot wound to her calf and he tied a makeshift tourniquet around it.
None of the victims were named last night, but Fox News reported that one of the victims was the attacker’s boyfriend, and police were not treating the incident as terrorism. Mass shootings by women are exceptionally rare. An FBI study of shootings from 2000 to 2013 found that, of 160 incidents, only six were carried out by a female attacker. Donald Trump, the US president, said he was monitoring events and wrote on Twitter: “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.”
Shaken Youtube employees were left reeling after the incident, which was over in less than an hour.
Todd Sherman wrote on Twitter: “We we heard people running … it was rumbling the floor. Thought earthquake.” On the way out of the building he “looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs”.
He added: “Police cruisers pulled up, hopped out with rifles ready, and I told them where the situation was.”
Vadim Lavrusik, a Youtube employee, wrote on Twitter that he and his colleagues were inside the offices and saw people running and barricading themselves inside offices.
After 20 minutes he said he had been evacuated, and footage from helicopters showed hundreds of employees leaving the sprawling campus, being checked for weapons as they went.
“I was on a video conference with someone in the building when it happened,” one woman told CNN.
“We were suddenly aware of people running and screaming. The people on the video conference became scared and said: ‘I have to get out of here’. We heard on the video conference sounds of people running and screaming.”
A female bystander told KTVU television: “I heard boom, boom, boom. Then I heard it again. It was loud and then like it was going away.”
The San Bruno offices house 1,700 employees in a largely open-plan environment, in four different buildings.