Who Is The YouTube Shooter, Nasim Najafi Aghdam?

On Tuesday, YouTube’s headquarters suffered through a tragic shooting, leaving three people shot and injured, with a fourth person inadvertently getting injured when fleeing the scene. The shooter, Nasim Najafi Aghdam, was an animal rights activist who, by her family’s admission, held a serious grudge against the online video sharing company. She took her own life after her assault concluded.

WHO IS THE YOUTUBE SHOOTER, NASIM NAJAFI AGHDAM?

According to CNN, Mountain View police found Aghdam about eleven hours before she attacked YouTube’s headquarters in San Bruno, California. It was around 1:40 a.m. when she was discovered asleep in her car by Mountain View police officers. She was situated in a parking lot that was roughly 30 miles away from YouTube’s building, though Aghdam kept a “calm and cooperative” demeanor during her conversation with police. They identified her as a missing person from the San Diego area, so they notified her family and subsequently released her.

 

According to her brother, however, he called the Mountain View police when he learned his sister was in the area, fearing she might strike against the social media platform she loathed. Nonetheless, the police insist they were never informed of her simmering grudge, stating, “At no point did her father or brother mention anything about potential acts of violence or a possibility of Aghdam lashing out as a result of her issues with her (YouTube) videos.”

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Aghdam’s family acknowledges she harbored a grudge against YouTube, which sometimes demonetized her videos or – in her view – unjustly marking them for having inappropriate content. Her social media accounts, all of which have since been deleted, and what appears to be her own personal website back up this claim. Her awkwardly designed website, which as of this writing is now offline too, was plastered with screenshots showing her ad revenue, alleging how one video that garnered over 300,000 views only earned her ten cents.

Moreover, she stated, “New close-minded youtube employees, got control of my Farsi YouTube channel last year 2016 & began filtering my videos to reduce views & suppress & discourage me from making videos!” Her page also warned readers of the dangers of dictatorships and housed many unique photographs of her, among other things.

April 4 happens to be Aghdam’s birthday, and her family is mourning her loss as well as the injuries YouTube employees have suffered.