Law enforcement officials in San Bruno, California have identified the shooter in Tuesday’s shooting at YouTube’s headquarters as Nasim Aghdam, of southern California, and her family has said they believe the motive for her attack on the company was over what she perceived as its mistreatment of her and videos she produced for the platform.
In a telephone interview with reporters on Tuesday night, Ismail Aghdam, the shooter’s father, said his 38-year-old daughter “was angry” because she believed YouTube had been censoring her videos and stopped the way in which they’d been paying her for them.
According to the Washington Post:
Residents of San Bruno, California were urged by police to stay clear of YouTube headquarters on Tuesday as reports of an active shooter on the tech giant’s campus began to emerge on social media.
As broadcast footage of YouTube employees evacuating company headquarters with their hands raised started to circulate, San Bruno police confirmed that they had responded to an active shooter situation. Google, which owns YouTube, acknowledged the incident on Twitter and stated that it is cooperating with authorities.
At least three people were reportedly injured, and NBC News has reported that a female suspect is dead at the scene.
One anonymous law enforcement source told the Los Angeles Times that at least two people were struck by gunfire, but it is unclear how severe their injuries may be.
“The shooter was described as a woman,” the Times added.
Several YouTube employees described on Twitter how they were barricaded inside their company’s headquarters after gunshots sparked panic across the campus and a rapid police response.
Christian Christensen, professor of journalism at Stockholm University, warned that “given the location of the event,” reporters and citizens should be careful about trumpeting unconfirmed information.
“Stick to confirmed sources only and trust very, very few videos,” Christensen said. “Potential for trolling and exploitation here is big.”
Responding to the shooting on Twitter, Jaclyn Corin, a survivor of the Parkland school shooting that left 17 dead in February, tweeted: