Woman opens fire at YouTube, 4 wounded and shooter dead

Updated: 6:19 p.m.

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A woman opened fire at YouTube’s headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area Tuesday, wounding four people before she shot and killed herself and prompted panic as employees hid and tried to flee, police and witnesses said.

Officers and federal agents swarmed the company’s headquarters complex in the city of San Bruno as multiple 911 reports came in reporting gunfire.

San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini told reporters that the victims have gunshot wounds and were taken to hospitals.

A spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital says it received three patients. Spokesman Brent Andrew says 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.

The hospital was expecting more patients but Andrew did not know their conditions.

Television news footage showed people leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air for police to inspect as they were leaving the building. Officers patted down people to make sure none had weapons, and police vehicles surrounded the area.

YouTube employee Vadim Lavrusik posted on Twitter that he heard gunshots and saw people running. He said he was barricaded in a room with his co-workers before being safely evacuated.

Will Hudson said a friend who works for YouTube texted him about the shooter.

“I think there might be a shooter in my building,” read one text. “The fire alarm went off so we started to evacuate and then people (started) running saying there was a shooter.”

Google, which owns the world’s biggest online video website, posted on Twitter that the company is coordinating with authorities and that its security team worked with authorities to evacuate buildings. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also said it responded to the shooting at YouTube’s suburban campus.

President Donald Trump said on Twitter that he was briefed about the shooting that was offering his “thoughts and prayers.”

Hudson said his friend made it safely back to San Francisco and was in contact with his family. Hudson said he’s become used to hearing about gun violence but has never been so close to it before.

“It just feels strange. It feels like it could really be anyone. That’s really the strangeness of it,” he said.

Calls and emails to YouTube representatives seeking comment were not immediately returned.

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This story has been corrected to remove a reference that patients were taken to Stanford hospital because the hospital now says it gave incorrect information about receiving patients from the shooting.