The YouTube shooter had a strange motive, and a stranger profile

A mass shooter is dead after killing herself at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California. Before taking her own life, shooter Nadim Aghdam shot and wounded three others with a pistol.

Free RCIA classes for Students and Catechists from Catholic Online School

Nasim Aghdam had a bizarre YouTube account where she posted images of herself with animals. She accused YouTube of censoring her videos and reducing viewership and advertising payments for her content.

Highlights

By Marshall Connolly (Catholic Online)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
4/4/2018 (6 years ago)

Published in U.S.

Keywords: Nadim Aghdam, YouTube, content, demonetized, motive

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - A mass shooting at YouTube headquarters has three people in the hospital and the shooter deceased. Nadim Aghdam took her own life after opening fire with a pistol at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California. 

Aghdam was a native of Iran who moved with her family to the United States as a child. She became an animal rights activist and described herself as a vegan bodybuilder. She was a prolific YouTube personality, creating videos in English and Farsi, talking about animal rights issues and working out. She often posed in evening gowns in front of painted backgrounds and with animals. 

Aghdam was just one of the thousands of personalities who made money making YouTube videos. YouTube, which is owned by Google, used to pay a share of advertising revenues to channels with more than 10,000 views. However, the company changed that policy in February to require at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of viewing to be paid. These changes meant that many content providers would no longer earn revenue from their work. 

Aghdam also accused the company of censoring and suppressing her content to avoid having to pay her. She accused YouTube of ruining her life. 

Her anger towards the firm alarmed her father enough that when she went missing her father contacted police, and warned she had a grudge against YouTube. 

Police did contact her sleeping in her car at 2 AM on Tuesday morning, but they did not detain her. Instead, she went on almost 12 hours later to shoot three people in an outdoor courtyard at YouTube headquarters. 

Aghdam's crime is notable because it is rare for a woman to be a mass shooter. The last mass shooting involving a female shooter took place in San Bernardino in 2015 when a husband and wife with ISIS sympathies murdered 14 people at a workplace holiday party. 

The violence also comes at a time when the public is discussing what to do to curtail mass shootings. It is obvious that poor mental health and coping skills, as well as firearms themselves, are common denominators. However, there appear to be few public policy proposals that make sense for solving the problem.