On Tuesday, April 3rd, a 38-year-old woman, named Nasim Aghdam, open fired at YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, California.
She shot three people before ultimately dying from what appeared to be a self-inflicted wound. Aghdam was able to find employees in the courtyard outside the building where employees often eat lunch since there is no ID required to access this part of the campus.
In this day and age, it seems as though people are being shot anywhere and everywhere. Were not safe in schools, offices, nightclubs, concerts, and just too many places to list. Instead of idly sitting by, we need to do something to make this trend a thing of the past.
In the case of the YouTube headquarters shooting, Aghdam's family had contacted the police to notify them that she had been missing since Saturday. Eventually, authorities found her at about two in the morning in the Mountain View area. Immediately, her brother checked to see how far Mountain View was from the YouTube headquarters. He told the authorities that she might go to the YouTube headquarters, and authorities told her family they had everything under control. However, they decided she was not a threat and moved on from her case.
Just last year, YouTube made some changes to their algorithm which made many videos start to receive fewer views. Earlier this year, YouTube updated their policies for placing ads on videos. Due to this change, Aghdam stopped being able to generate revenue from ads on her videos. It was common knowledge to her family that she was upset with YouTube over these changes.
While California has some of the strictest gun laws in this country, they may not be enough. The shooting at the YouTube headquarters could have absolutely been prevented. Aghdam's family had warned the police that she might try to do something at the YouTube headquarters. They could have followed her, or they could have even simply notified authorities in the area of the YouTube headquarters to be on alert.
I do not think this incident is a call for stricter gun laws. California already has some of the strictest gun laws in the United States. I think this is a wakeup call on the carelessness of the police and our government. There are far too many cases where one government authority fails to share critical information with another government agency who could have used said information to stop an attack. In this case, the Mountain View police could have notified YouTube or authorities in San Bruno who could have absolutely stopped Aghdam.
There is a history of people being shot at all kinds of events all over our country. It is time to take action to make events like this a thing of the past. We can all start to affect change by taking to the streets and peacefully protesting to make our voice heard, registering to vote so that the right people can be elected, and directly contacting our elected officials.
