Youtube's gun-shooting leaves one dead and four injured
Police in San Bruno, a city about 20 kilometers south of San Francisco, California, responded with a massive emergency deploy in the face of an alleged gun shooting at the headquarters of the YouTube technology company. Four people have been wounded and one dead, possibly the shooter, in the gun battle.
The police began receiving calls that claimed that there was a person firing a gun in the building about a quarter to one, local time. At 13.35, the police confirmed on Twitter that it is a shooting. The identity or motives of the woman are unknown. "We are responding to an active attacker. Please stay away from Cherry Avenue and Bay Hill Drive", the San Bruno Police Department posted on its Twitter account at 13.28 (PT).
The CBS San Francisco TV channel said that several people have been transferred to hospitals to be treated for this incident. Images from other local television networks showed employees leaving the premises, each commandeered by officers. In the meantime, Google tweeted: "we are coordinating with the authorities and will provide official information (...) as soon as it is available."
San Bruno police chief Ed Barberini reported that four people have been taken to local hospitals with gunshot wounds. Inside the building, the agents found a mortal victim, a woman. Barberini said that the initial hypothesis is that she is the person who shot and committed suicide with his own weapon. The injured were transferred to San Francisco General Hospital and Stanford Hospital. The first one confirmed that it had received three patients, one man and two women. The man, 36 years old, is in critical condition.
Vadim Lavrusik, who on his Twitter account identifies himself as a YouTube employee, said he had "heard gunshots" and that there were "people running." Lavrusik explained that he first took refuge in a room with other colleagues and later reported that he had been evacuated and that he was "safe".
"First I thought it was an earthquake," wrote Todd Sherman, who describes himself on his Twitter account as a product manager for the company. "After leaving the office, we did not really know what was happening, but more people were running. It seemed serious, that it was not a simulacrum".
It was reported the presence of helicopters and police from the SWAT crash team at the scene. Others witnesses declared the shots were quick, like an automatic weapon. Two of them even claimed to have seen a wounded woman in the leg, bleeding, who was taken to a hamburger stand in front of the YouTube headquarters, where she received first aid.
The YouTube headquarters in San Bruno is a gigantic complex of three buildings where 1,700 people work.
