Woman shoots 3, self at YouTube in possible domestic dispute
SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP) - A woman opened fire with a handgun Tuesday in a courtyard at YouTube headquarters, wounding three people before fatally shooting herself in what is being investigated as a domestic dispute, authorities said.
Terrified employees huddled inside, calling 911, as officers and federal agents swarmed the company's suburban campus sandwiched between two interstates in the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Bruno.
YouTube employee Dianna Arnspiger said she was on the building's second floor when she heard gunshots, ran to a window and saw the shooter on a patio outside.
Emergency and law enforcement personnel exit YouTube headquarters, Tuesday, April 3, 2018, in San Bruno, Calif. A woman opened fire at YouTube headquarters Tuesday, setting off a panic among employees and wounding several people before fatally shooting herself, police and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
She said the woman wore glasses and a scarf and was using a "big huge pistol."
"It was a woman and she was firing her gun. And I just said, 'Shooter,' and everybody started running," Arnspiger said.
She and others hid in a conference room for an hour while another employee repeatedly called 911 for updates.
"It was terrifying," she said.
Authorities gave few details about the shooter and victims, except that the gunfire was being investigated as a domestic dispute, two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the probe.
A 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition, a spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital said.
Witnesses described terror before officers arrived and discovered a victim near a front door and then found the shooter several minutes later with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said.
He said two additional gunshot victims were found at an adjacent business minutes later. Barberini initially said there were four people who had been shot but later clarified that a fourth person had suffered an ankle injury.
Zach Vorhies, 37, a senior software engineer at YouTube, said he was at his desk working on the second floor of one of the buildings when the fire alarm went off. He got on his skateboard and approached a courtyard, where he saw the shooter yelling, "'Come at me, or come get me.'"
He saw somebody lying nearby on his back with a red stain on his stomach that appeared to be from a bullet wound. Vorhies said he realized there was an active shooter when a police officer with an assault rifle came through a security door.
He said the public can access the courtyard where he saw the shooter during work hours.
Michael Finney, a 21-year-old supervisor at Carl's Jr. across from the campus, said he came out of the bathroom to see a woman in a booth bleeding from the calf. Two friends were trying to stop the bleeding, using the victim's sweatshirt as a tourniquet, but it wasn't helping, he told the San Jose Mercury News.
"Everyone was figuring out what to do," Finney said. "I was trying to stay calm and see what I could do. Everybody is shocked."
Google, which owns the world's biggest online video website, said the company's security team worked with authorities to evacuate buildings and was doing whatever it could support the victims and their families.
YouTube's headquarters has more than a thousand engineers and other employees in several buildings. Originally built in the late 1990s for the clothing retailer Gap, the campus south of San Francisco is known for its sloped green roof of native grasses.
Inside, Google famously outfitted the office several years ago with a three-lane red slide for workers to zoom from one story to another.
"Today it feels like the entire community of YouTube, all of the employees, were victims of this crime," said Chris Dale, a YouTube spokesman. "Our hearts go out to all those who suffered."
The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and that officials were monitoring developments.
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Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo in Los Angeles, Eric Tucker in Washington and Janie Har in San Francisco contributed to this report.
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This story has been corrected with new information from authorities that three victims suffered gunshot wounds and a fourth was taken to the hospital but wasn't shot. A reference also has been removed to patients being taken to Stanford Hospital because the facility says it gave incorrect information.
Law enforcement officials walk toward YouTube offices in San Bruno, Calif., Tuesday, April 3, 2018. A woman opened fire Tuesday at YouTube headquarters, wounding some people before fatally shooting herself as terrified employees huddled inside, police and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Workers walk down a street near the YouTube complex in San Bruno, Calif., Tuesday, April 3, 2018. A woman opened fire at YouTube headquarters Tuesday, setting off a panic among employees and wounding several people before fatally shooting herself, police and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Carl's Jr. workers and others sit in a shopping center parking lot near YouTube's offices in San Bruno, Calif., Tuesday, April 3, 2018. A woman opened fire at YouTube headquarters Tuesday, setting off a panic among employees and wounding several people before fatally shooting herself, police and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Armed law enforcement personnel exit an armored vehicle outside YouTube headquarters, Tuesday, April 3, 2018, in San Bruno, Calif. A woman opened fire at YouTube headquarters Tuesday, setting off a panic among employees and wounding several people before fatally shooting herself, police and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Armed law enforcement personnel exit YouTube headquarters, Tuesday, April 3, 2018, in San Bruno, Calif. A woman opened fire at YouTube headquarters Tuesday, setting off a panic among employees and wounding several people before fatally shooting herself, police and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
This image taken from video from KGO-TV shows people walk away from the YouTube headquarters area after being searched as police respond to reports of a shooting at the headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., Tuesday, April 3, 2018. A woman opened fire at YouTube headquarters Tuesday, setting off a panic among employees and wounding several people before fatally shooting herself, police and witnesses said. (KGO-TV via AP)
An officer runs past a YouTube sign near the company's complex in San Bruno, Calif., Tuesday, April 3, 2018. A woman opened fire at YouTube headquarters Tuesday, setting off a panic among employees and wounding several people before fatally shooting herself, police and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
A sign for YouTube is displayed from windows at a Walmart corporate office in San Bruno, Calif., Tuesday, April 3, 2018. A woman opened fire Tuesday at YouTube headquarters, wounding some people before fatally shooting herself as terrified employees huddled inside, police and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
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