There are reports of an active shooter at YouTube’s headquarters, and video shows employees evacuating from the facility. You can watch a livestream video above. The San Bruno Police Department confirmed that it was responding to an active shooter.
Police said in a news conference that four people were shot in different locations and the shooter is dead at the scene from a self-inflicted wound. They did not release further details. The shooter was later identified by California news media as Nasim Aghdam, a bodybuilding self-proclaimed vegan who lived in California and had railed against the company on YouTube.
Early reports pointed to a domestic violence motive not terrorism.
News broke on the afternoon of April 3, 2018, as some YouTube employees took to Twitter with frantic messages.
The situation was fluid and unfolding. There were unconfirmed reports immediately of multiple injuries, and there were unconfirmed reports that the shooter was dead that also circulated. Police then confirmed those reports. However, authorities had not yet provided many details. The San Bruno Police Department did write on Twitter, “We are responding to an active shooter. Please stay away from Cherry Ave & Bay Hill Drive.” Reports are coming in that as many as 11 people might be injured, although it was not yet clear whether anyone had been killed.
“I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs,” Todd Sherman, who works at YouTube, wrote on Twitter. “Peaked [sic] around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front.”
Other social media users posted photos of people evacuating the building and SWAT arriving. According to ABC7 News reporter Dan Noyes, “the shooter is a white, adult female wearing a dark top and head scarf.”
SWAT has arrived on site. And we saw a negotiator go in #youtubeshooting
The headquarters for YouTube are in San Bruno, California. Authorities revealed in a press release that Nasim Najafi Aghdam was the shooter and wrote, “The San Bruno Police Department is investigating a motive for this shooting. At this time there is no evidence that the shooter knew the victims of this shooting or that individuals were specifically targeted. Anyone with any information related to this crime is urged to contact the San Bruno Police Department at (650) 616-7100 or by email: sbpdtipline@sanbruno.ca.gov. Information can be left anonymously.” Google Communications released a statement on Twitter that read, “Re: YouTube situation, we are coordinating with authorities and will provide official information here from Google and YouTube as it becomes available.”
Information on the victims was not released. Multiple 911 calls were reported from the YouTube headquarters building, according to local news reports. The YouTube headquarters is described as a large office park that holds thousands of employees.
Eyewitness reports were starting to come in and one employee of YouTube reportedly had part of a bullet lodged in her shoe. There were reports of a massive law enforcement response to the scene of the headquarters building of the well-known tech company. The mass shooting reports come as the nation remains on edge following the Florida school shooting that claimed the lives of 17 people, students and staff members, at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. That shooting sparked a large gun control march in Washington D.C.
The motive for the shooting was not yet clear.
This post will be updated as soon as more information is known about the possible mass shooting and active shooter at YouTube.