RTTue, 03 Apr 2018 21:09 UTC
The YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California is on lockdown after reports of an active shooter on campus. Police have confirmed activity at the address, while employees described sounds of gunshots and reported an evacuation.
"We are responding to an active shooter," the San Bruno police said on Twitter.
A photo taken from across the street shows a large police presence in the area. Another picture shows police escorting some employees out, with their hands up.
There are
multiple reports that the reported shooter is female. Nothing has been officially confirmed, however. Footage from local media helicopters shows YouTube employees gathered in a parking lot outside the complex, with some being interviewed by police.
The nearby headquarters of the 23rd Regiment, US Marine Corps, has also been placed on lockdown.
There are police surrounding the @YouTube building - potential shooter. Be safe! pic.twitter.com/4JTKkn3Oy1
- Erin (@erinjeanc) April 3, 2018
"We are coordinating with authorities and will provide official information here from Google and YouTube as it becomes available," Google, which owns the video sharing website, said in a tweet.
About 1,700 people work at the YouTube campus, located just off Interstate 280 south of San Francisco. One YouTube employee tweeted he "heard shots and saw people running."
Local media have reported that at least two ambulances with victims have arrived at the San Francisco General Hospital, a major trauma center. The Stanford Medical Center reported receiving 4-5 patients from the shooting.
Comment: Police have identified the woman behind the shooting as Nasim Aghdam of San Diego, California. Four people were injured after Aghdam opened fire at the YouTube campus. Adgdam was found dead inside the complex, police believe she committed suicide.
Video from January 2017 has emerged online which appears to show Aghdam criticizing YouTube. Although the woman identifies herself in the video as Nasime Sabz, a law enforcement official told AP that she used that name online and had a long-running dispute with YouTube. Her father, Ismail Aghdam, told the Bay Area News Group that she "hated" the company. He added that she was angry because the company stopped paying her for videos.
In the footage, she complains that her videos no longer received the same number of views they once did, and accuses the site of placing an age restriction on a workout video she made.
"Why they did that? Because it got famous and was getting many views, so they age restricted that video to keep it from getting views," she said. The woman said she contacted YouTube and was told there was inappropriate content in the exercise video.
A channel by the name of Nasime Sabz was deleted from YouTube. The video is now shared by social media users.
Comment: Police have identified the woman behind the shooting as Nasim Aghdam of San Diego, California. Four people were injured after Aghdam opened fire at the YouTube campus. Adgdam was found dead inside the complex, police believe she committed suicide.