Learning More About YouTube Shooter Nasim Aghdam

The individual suspected of attacking YouTube’s headquarters in San Bruno, California was a woman.

Eleven hours before the shooting, Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, was found sleeping in her car only 30 miles away from the headquarters. Police reported that Aghdam was “calm and cooperative” during their 20-minute conversation therefore police took no action, deeming her not a threat.

A few hours after their encounter, she visited a gun range then opened fire using her legally owned handgun at YouTube, injuring four people and killing herself.

ABC News reported that three victims suffered gunshot wounds and the fourth hurt their ankle fleeing the scene, according to the San Bruno police chief Ed Barberini.

The motive offically remains unclear.

Police identified her dissatisfaction with the company, reporting that she was angry with the service’s policies which were affecting her compensation for posting videos.

USA Today reports Aghdam’s content consisted of a mixture of fitness videos, animal cruelty rants and vegan cooking tips. All of her social media accounts have been suspended. CNN reports that she had four YouTube channels — one in Farsi, one in Turkish and two in English and that she also had an Instagram page dedicated to vegan life.

An FBI study consisting of 160 “active shooter” situations between 2000 and 2013 discovered that only 6 incidents, or about 4%, were carried out by a female shooter, according to The Guardian.

Despite these statistics, there have been instances where women were involved in mass shootings: Tashfeen Malik and her husband murdered 14 people in San Bernardino, California in 2015 and Jennifer San Marco  fatally shot six people at a postal distribution center in Goleta, California in 2006.