YouTube shooter Nasim Aghdam was vegan activist angry about ‘censored videos’.
The San Bruno Police Department has identified the suspect in Tuesday’s shooting at the YouTube campus as Nasim Aghdam, a 39-year-old woman from San Diego.
The confirmation came hours after numerous media sources had initially named Aghdam as the suspect.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Aghdam’s car was towed from the YouTube parking lot.
Aghdam seemingly had a website in which she promotes numerous YouTube channels, including ones in English, Turkish, and Farsi. All of her social media channels appear to have been deactivated or removed.
The woman seemed to be upset at YouTube over what she called “age-restricted” policies.
As she wrote:
There is no free speech in real world & you will be suppressed for telling the truth that is not supported by the system. Videos of targeted users are filtered & merely relegated, so that people can hardly see their videos!
There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!
Citing one video that has since been removed, Aghdam wrote: “This video got age restricted after new close-minded youtube employees, got control of my farsi youtube channel last year 2016 & began filtering my videos to reduce views & suppress & discaurage me from making videos!”
Aghdam appears to have posted a video on her Facebook page prior to its removal, in which she complains of being “age-restricted” on YouTube for what she called a non-sexual “workout video.”
“This is what they are doing to vegan activists and many other people who try to promote healthy, humane, and smart living,” she said in Persian-accented English.
Last year, Google overhauled its age restriction rules and enforcement policy. This resulted in a wave of videos being demonetized, which angered YouTubers who could no longer attach money-making ads to their videos.
Neither Google (YouTube’s parent company) nor Facebook immediately responded to Ars’ request for comment.
Horrific
According to the Bay Area News Group, Aghdam’s car was located in Mountain View, Google’s hometown, hours before the shooting.
Her family in Riverside County, in Southern California, had reported her missing. Her father, Ismail Aghdam, told police that she might be headed to YouTube as she “hated” the company. The elder Aghdam confirmed what was already in his daughter’s videos, that she was “angry” over perceived censorship of her videos by YouTube.
San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini told reporters around 4:30pm Pacific Time on Tuesday that the shooting occurred in a “courtyard area,” and that officers responded at 12:48pm, just two minutes after 911 calls were made.
A woman who appeared to have shot herself via a handgun was found dead at the scene, who authorities believe is the shooter.
Four people were taken to regional hospitals: three with gunshot-related injuries, while the fourth sustained an “ankle-related” injury while fleeing the scene.
Barberini also said that investigators would be at the scene “all night.”
