YouTube Shooter Identified As Nasim Aghdam, A Vegan Woman With Strong Social Media Presence
According to NBC Bay Area News, the shooting suspect from the incident at YouTube’s headquarters has been identified as Nasim Aghdam from South California. She opened fire on an outdoor patio, wounding three victims before ending her own life. She was in her 30s.
Aghdam posted numerous YouTube videos railing against the company, saying that YouTube “discriminated and filtered” her videos, leading to lower viewership. ABC News added that the woman had a personal website with a manifesto, which detailed her issues with the supposed censorship.
The writing on her website is rambling, discussing dictatorship, profits, and people turning into robots. Aghdam posted screenshots as alleged proof of YouTube’s censorship, blaming her declining viewership on the company.
“Be aware! Dictatorship exists in all countries but with different tactics! They only care for personal and short-term profits and do anything to reach their goals even by fooling simple-minded people, hiding the truth, manipulating science and everything, putting public mental and physical health at risk, abusing non-human animals, polluting the environment, destroying family values, promoting materialism and sexual degeneration in the name of freedom and turning people into programmed robots!”
Also, it appears that the woman did not have a personal relationship with anyone working for or at YouTube, as had been suggested previously. Some speculate that her motive in the shooting is due to her discontent with the company.
Aghdam’s Instagram profile states that she was an “athlete Artist Comedian Poet Model Singer Host Actor Director Producer.” She also had a separate page based on veganism as well as several YouTube channels, one in Farsi, Turkish, on Hand Art and one in English.
This is the YouTube shooter's Instagram page.
She had over 55k followers.https://t.co/KjGG7KDa4k https://t.co/O1wXW5mRPw
— PeterSweden (@PeterSweden7) April 4, 2018
Dianna Arnspiger, a YouTube media operations employee, said that she did not recognize the woman.
“It was a big gun. I know guns, because my father was in law enforcement.”
Police now report that the suspect wielded a handgun. SF Gate noted that some of Aghdam’s videos were graphic, involving animal rights. A video featured on her website shows a dog being boiled alive, while another shows a dog being skinned alive on Chinese fur farms.
According to Wired, misinformation about the shooter quickly spread after the incident. Some said the suspect was a 30-year-old white woman, while another rumor said it was a man in full body armor.
Three victims were shot in the incident, with one 36-year-old man critically injured. The victims also include a 32-year-old woman and a 27-year-old woman. The women are in serious condition and fair condition respectively, and all are being treated at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, according to the New York Times.
