On April 3, 2018, at approximately 12:46 p.m.
PDT, a shooting occurred at the headquarters of the American video-sharing website
YouTube in
San Bruno, California. The shooter was identified as 38-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam, an Iranian-American woman who entered through an exterior parking garage, approached an outdoor patio, and opened fire with a
Smith & Wesson9 mmsemi-automatic pistol. Aghdam wounded three people, one of them critically, before killing herself with her own firearm.[6][7][8]
Shooting
At 12:46 p.m., San Bruno police received reports of a shooter at the YouTube headquarters.[9] Aghdam's weapon had a capacity of 10 rounds and she emptied one magazine before reloading.[10] Helicopter footage later showed a large hole and broken glass in the building's lobby doors.[11] A
coroner's report found that Aghdam died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the heart, finding no evidence of drugs or alcohol in her system.[12]
Perpetrator
The perpetrator was identified by police as Nasim Najafi Aghdam (
Persian: نسيم نجفى اقدم; 5 April 1979 – 3 April 2018), a
vegan activist and fitness personality of Iranian-Azerbaijani heritage.[13][14] She was born in
Urmia, Iran; her parents immigrated to Iran from the Republic of Azerbaijan.[14] She immigrated to the United States with her family in 1996.[15][16][17] She was a registered member of the
Baháʼí Faith[18] and described how veganism aligned with her religion.[19] She was critical of Muslims and Baháʼís who ate animals.[20] She lived with her grandmother in
Riverside County, California,[16][17] and posted content on Facebook, Instagram,
Telegram and YouTube in
Persian,
Azerbaijani, English and
Turkish.[16] Her content went viral on
Iranian social media and drew widespread attention.[21] She had protested with
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) against the use of pigs in
United States Marine Corps training procedures for victims of trauma.[22]
Aghdam purchased and registered a 9 mm
Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol from The Gun Range San Diego, a gun dealer, on January 16, 2018.[23] On March 31, 2018, Aghdam's family reported to the police that she was missing.[5] According to her father, she hated YouTube, and the family was worried she might be traveling to the company's offices.[24][25]
The morning before the shooting, police officers found Aghdam sleeping in her car in a
Walmart parking lot in
Mountain View, 23 miles (37 km) south of YouTube's headquarters.[26][27] The officers did not identify her as a threat, and it is unclear whether they were aware of the concerns of Aghdam's father.[28] Aghdam visited a shooting range the day before the shooting.[27]
Police believe Aghdam was motivated by perceived discrimination by YouTube towards her channels.[29][30] She complained about the company on her website,[31][32] writing that "Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!" and that the
company had demonetized most of her videos.[33]
Her father Ismail, of
Riverside County, said that his daughter was a "vegan activist and animal lover" who told him that YouTube had been censoring her videos and stopped paying her for her content. "She was angry," he said.[34] According to the San Jose Mercury-News her YouTube channel included strange workout video clips, graphic anti-animal abuse videos and vegan cooking tutorials.[34]
YouTube CEO
Susan Wojcicki wrote on Twitter: "There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter @YouTube today. Our deepest gratitude to law enforcement & first responders for their rapid response. Our hearts go out to all those injured & impacted today. We will come together to heal as a family."[43] Google CEO
Sundar Pichai echoed his sentiments on Twitter, and sent an email to his employees describing the shooting as an "unimaginable tragedy" and a "horrific act of violence."[44]
^Davis, Kristina (August 13, 2009).
"PETA protests military's use of pigs in training". The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Archived from the original on April 4, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2018. Nasim Aghdam... demonstrated with a plastic sword against the Marines' killing of pigs in a military exercise. "For me, animal rights equal human rights," Aghdam said.
^Astor, Maggie; Salam, Maya (April 3, 2018).
"YouTube Shooting: Woman Wounds 3 Before Killing Herself, Police Say". The New York Times.
Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. Retrieved April 3, 2018. Brent Andrew, a spokesman for the hospital, said at a news conference that a 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition.