THE animal rights YouTube shooter who wounded three people before killing herself asked for a job with the online giant the day before, it has emerged.
Body-building vegan Nasim Aghdam visited the YouTube campus and was directed to the front desk where she inquired about employment, police have revealed.
They believe it was a cover story to survey the lay of the land before returning the next day to carry out the shooting.
She then spent the night in her car in a parking lot about three miles from Google headquarters in Mountain View, near San Francisco.
The next day, police say, she practiced shooting at a gun range before driving to YouTube, parking her car in a garage and walking to a door leading to the courtyard.
Police say she ignored an employee who asked for a YouTube identification badge.
She also had the handwritten address of Google, which owns the video-sharing site, in her car at the time of the shooting.
Police said it appears the 39-year-old committed the April 3 attack because she was displeased with YouTube’s business practices, which family members say she complained were costing her income and an audience.
San Bruno police Commander Geoff Caldwell said investigators may never know exactly what prompted Aghdam – a prolific video maker – to leave her family in Southern California and drive to the San Francisco Bay Area with a 9mm pistol she obtained legally in January.
He said: “I don’t believe we’re going to find much more about Nasim Aghdam or her background. There’s a lot of unanswered questions.”
Aghdam made bizarre videos that she posted online.
She exercised, promoted animal rights and promoted a vegan diet, often with elaborate costumes or carrying a rabbit.
People who post on YouTube can receive money from advertisements that accompany their videos.
However, the company changed its policy in January and stopped paying YouTubers who had smaller audiences.
Aghdam’s father, Ismail Aghdam, said he reported his daughter missing and warned police the day before the attack that she was upset with how YouTube handled her videos and might be planning to go to its offices.
Mountain View police said they found his daughter sleeping in her car, but she gave no indication she was a threat to herself or others.
They also said the father never mentioned YouTube employees might be in danger.
Ismail Aghdam said Thursday that the family remains baffled about why she would carry out such an attack.
He said: “My wife just cries every day.”
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