Three shot at California YouTube HQ, female suspect dead

A woman shot and wounded three people at YouTube’s headquarters in Northern California before killing herself, police say.

US media have named the suspect as Nasim Aghdam and said the incident is the result of a domestic dispute.

A 36-year-old man left in a critical condition is believed to be her boyfriend, CBS news reports. Two women, 32 and 27, were also shot.

The woman approached an outdoor patio and dining courtyard on the campus around lunchtime and began to fire before entering the building, police said.

Police are yet to comment on the motivation for the shooting.

San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said officers arrived at the offices at 12:48 local time to find a "chaotic scene", with numerous people fleeing.

Images broadcast on local TV stations showed employees leaving with their hands raised. Other footage showed evacuees forming a queue before being individually frisked by police.

One person with a bullet wound was found at the front of the company headquarters, Barberini said. Minutes later officers found a woman who appeared to have shot herself, he said.

Two further victims were later discovered at an adjacent business.

The website NasimeSabz.com, which media said was linked to the attacker, had several posts about Persian culture and veganism, interspersed with screeds against YouTube.

Those complaints included claims the company was not sharing enough revenue with people who create videos for the platform.

“There is no equal growth opportunity on YouTube, or any other video-sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to,” read one posting on the site.

A U.S. government security official told Reuters there was no known connection to terrorism.

Several YouTube employees tweeted about the attack as it was taking place.

Product manager Todd Sherman said people fled the building in panic as the shooting unfolded.

We were sitting in a meeting and then we heard people running because it was rumbling the floor. First thought was earthquake. https://t.co/gmolQmRXm1

— Todd Sherman (@tdd) April 3, 2018

Another employee, Vadim Lavrusik, tweeted he was barricaded in a room with other staff. He later said he had been evacuated.

Some 1,700 people work at the YouTube HQ. The company is owned by Google and is the area's biggest employer.

Female mass shooters are rare in America. A recent Washington Post analysis shows only three of 150 U.S. shootings with more than four victims since 1966 were carried out by women. In 2015, a husband and wife killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California.

US President Donald Trump tweeted about the shooting, saying that they have been briefed about the situation. 

Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTube’s HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018