YouTube Shooting: Google CEO Sundar Pichai Reacts, Among Others
A woman left everyone shocked at YouTube and around the country when she opened fire at the company’s headquarters in San Bruno, a city in San Mateo County, California on Tuesday before killing herself.
According to reports the woman identified as Nasim Aghdam wounded four people and then allegedly shot herself dead, even as employees from the Google-owned company fled their offices into the streets. The news of the shooting took everyone by surprise especially the top executives.
Google CEO, Sundar Pichai immediately wrote a letter to all the employees of Google Communications and described the shooting as an “unimaginable tragedy” and a “horrific act of violence”.
Here is the full text of Pichai’s email.
Everyone,
Earlier this afternoon, while our employees were having lunch, we received reports of an active shooter at YouTube in San Bruno. Law enforcement and our security team worked to evacuate the buildings and prioritize the safety of everyone there.
The best information we have is that the situation is contained. It's with great sadness that I tell you based on the latest information-four people were injured in this horrific act of violence. We're doing everything we can to support them and their families at this time.
I'm grateful to everyone inside and outside the company for the outpouring of support and best wishes. I am especially thankful to the first responders and our own security team who acted so quickly to keep people safe.
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.
Let's everyone come together now to support Susan and the YouTube team.
-Sundar
He also issued a statement on his Twitter account, sympathizing with the employees and thanking the law enforcement and the first responders for their help.
There are no words to describe the tragedy that occurred today. @SusanWojcicki & I are focused on supporting our employees & the @YouTube community through this difficult time together. Thank you to the police & first responders for their efforts, and to all for msgs of support.
— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) April 3, 2018
Apart from Pichai, the company’s CEO, Susan Wojcicki also responded to the shooting and expressed her gratitude towards the police.
There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter @YouTube today. Our deepest gratitude to law enforcement & first responders for their rapid response. Our hearts go out to all those injured & impacted today. We will come together to heal as a family.
— Susan Wojcicki (@SusanWojcicki) April 4, 2018
Some of the other prominent executives who reacted to the news were Apple CEO Tim Cook and Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey.
From everyone at Apple, we send our sympathy and support to the team at YouTube and Google, especially the victims and their families.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 3, 2018
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. This is a simple and reasonable approach, and it won’t solve all, but it’s a good start: https://t.co/ADYalbaO57 https://t.co/nbXpH9DDyT
— jack (@jack) April 3, 2018
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella retweeted Sundar Pichai’s tweet and said that “on behalf of all of Microsoft, our hearts are with everyone at YouTube and Google today and all those affected”.
Aghdam was a YouTuber herself and allegedly held a grudge against the self-broadcasting platform.
According to a report in Mercury News, before opening fire at the headquarters, Aghdam was found by Mountain View Police sleeping in her car. She had been reported missing by her family in Southern California and her father, Ismail Aghdam, had reportedly told the police that his daughter might be going to YouTube because she “hated” the company.
In an interview on Tuesday night, Ismail told the reporters that his 38-year-old daughter told the family a few days ago that YouTube had been censoring her videos and had stopped paying her for her content. “She was angry,” he said.
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