RISKAlert Report Updated: April 3, 2018
Nasim Aghdam , a 39-year old YouTube user who was angry after access to her self-produced YouTube videos was reduced, drove 470 miles from Menifee in southern California to YouTube headquarters in northern California and shot three staff members with a handgun at the YouTube campus and then turned the gun on herself, inflicting a fatal injury.
Aghdam’s father, Ismail Aghdam said he had called the police, warning that she hated YouTube, and that he was afraid that she might be headed up to their headquarters after she went missing from her home.
She started shooting in a courtyard area and it appears she killed herself as law enforcement arrived on the scene. She was one of a handful of female shooters, and passionate about veganism and animal rights issues, and used her YouTube channel to spread her message. She ranted online against the company’s new policies and accused them of censoring her videos and reducing their views.
She had complained on her website that “new close-minded youtube employees” had “filtered my channels” starting
in 2016, causing the number of views on her videos to drop. She posted a screenshot of her YouTube page showing that one video had received 366,591 views.
YouTube staff members were terrorized by the random shootings, and were searched before
being allowed to go to their cars and leave the offices. It was the first major Workplace Violence
incident in a major Silicon Valley company and should encourage other companies to add more
security controls to their campuses.
LESSONS LEARNED:
1. A Workplace Violence Incident can happen anywhere and anytime! Be Ready.
- Lack of access controls (metal detectors) allowed a killer to enter the YouTube campus with a
gun and shoot three staff members, injuring one critically. Simple, inexpensive metal detectors
could have eliminated this vulnerability. - Police did not respond quickly enough when they were called and alerted IN ADVANCE that the
shooter might be heading to the YouTube campus. She might have been apprehended on route
during the six plus hour drive to San Bruno.
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