California: A woman shot and wounded three persons before killing herself at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.
The shooter had not been identified and there was no word about her motivation. Unidentified law enforcement officials told Associated Press that the shooting was being investigated as a case of domestic dispute.
Of the three wounded, a 27-year-old woman was said to be in fair condition, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 36-year-old man was critical.
Shootings such as this by a woman are rare in the US, where most incidents are perpetrated by men. Only six of 160 mass shootings between 2000 and 2013 were carried out by women, according to an FBI study published in 2014.
The shooting started around lunch break. The woman approached an outdoor patio and dining courtyard on the campus and began to fire before entering the building, police said.
The San Jose Mercury News, citing a law enforcement source, said that she was targeting her boyfriend due to a domestic dispute.
Employees ran out for cover or took shelter where they could and several of them posted the news on social media. Others called their families to let them know they were safe.
“It was very chaotic, as you can imagine,” San Bruno police chief Ed Barberini told reporters at a news briefing.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google that owns YouTube, called the shooting a “horrific act of violence” and an “unimaginable tragedy” in a statement.
“It’s with great sadness that I tell you – based on the latest information – four people were injured in this horrific act of violence... I know a lot of you are in shock right now. Over the coming days, we will continue to provide support to help everyone in our Google family heal from this unimaginable tragedy,” he added.
Jesse Pineda of San Bruno told the San Francisco Chronicle he was getting a hamburger at a restaurant across the street from the YouTube offices when he heard three shots in rapid succession and he saw young woman walking out. She was shot in the left leg. He pulled her to safety in the restaurant.
He heard more shots and when he ran back towards YouTube he saw a woman on the ground.
“She was dead, I’m sure of it,” Pineda said. “Those 10 shots were rapid fire — it was no mercy. There were four more shots after that. I wish I had had a gun but I didn’t. I had to be smart and get out of there. I had to be fast.”
The shooting is the latest in a string of mass killings carried out in the United States in recent years. Most recently, the massacre of 17 people at a Florida high school has led to calls for tighter restrictions on gun ownership.
President Donald Trump said on Twitter that he had been briefed on the shooting.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved,” Trump tweeted. “Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.”
In response, Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey tweeted: “We can’t keep being reactive to this, thinking and praying it won’t happen again at our schools, jobs, or our community spots. It’s beyond time to evolve our policies.”
Last month, YouTube announced it would ban content promoting the sale of guns and gun accessories as well as videos that teach how to make guns.
In a recording of a 911 call posted online by the Los Angeles Times, a dispatcher can be heard saying: "Shooter. Another party said they spotted someone with a gun. Suspect came from the back patio ... Again we have a report of a subject with a gun. They heard seven or eight shots being fired."
Dozens of emergency vehicles quickly converged on the YouTube campus, and police could be seen on televised aerial video systematically frisking several employees leaving the area with their hands raised.
One of the victims, a 36-year-old man, was listed in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital. A 32-year-old woman was listed in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition. Authorities did not release names of the victims.
The three patients taken to San Francisco General Hospital were all awake, Dr. Andre Campbell, a trauma surgeon at the hospital, said at a news conference. All three people were victims of gunshot wounds, Campbell said, but none of them had undergone surgery. A fourth person was taken to a local hospital with an ankle injury from fleeing the scene.
YouTube Chief Executive Susan Wojcicki declined to comment to reporters as she left the building.
"It's with great sadness that I tell you - based on the latest information - four people were injured in this horrific act of violence," Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said in letter to employees that was posted on Twitter.
"I know a lot of you are in shock right now. Over the coming days, we will continue to provide support to help everyone in our Google family heal from this unimaginable tragedy," he added.
In a separate tweet, Pichai said he and Wojcicki were "focused on supporting our employees & the @YouTube community through this difficult time together."
Last month, YouTube announced it would ban content promoting the sale of guns and gun accessories as well as videos that teach how to make guns.
Female mass shooters are rare. A recent Washington Post analysis shows only three out of 150 US shootings with more than four victims since 1966 were done by women. In 2015, a husband and wife killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California.
