Shooter opens fire at YouTube in San Bruno, injures 3, kills self

SAN BRUNO, Calif. -- A woman shot and wounded three people before fatally turning the gun on herself Tuesday at YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, setting off a chaotic scramble as workers dived for cover, hid in closets and ran from the building.

San Bruno police officers and San Mateo County sheriff's deputies rushed to the office park after the first reports of gunfire came in at 12:48 p.m. and saw dozens of workers streaming from the exits.

Near the front of the building at 901 Cherry Ave., they came across one victim with a gunshot wound, and in an ensuing search of the premises found the shooter with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Two other gunshot victims were found at nearby businesses where they had apparently taken refuge, police said.

The three victims were rushed to San Francisco General Hospital. A 27-year-old woman was later listed in fair condition, a 32-year-old woman in serious condition and a 36-year-old man in critical condition, hospital officials said.

The motive in the shooting was not immediately clear, nor was the relationship -- if any -- between the shooter and victims.

The violence unfolded in a matter of seconds, and several YouTube employees took to social media to report hearing gunfire and hiding or running for their lives. Some simply let people know they were ``safe.'' Hundreds of workers were evacuated by police, who made everyone hold their hands up as they filed out onto the street.

``It was very chaotic, as you can imagine,'' said San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini.

Workers who were in the building described a terrifying scene as people rushed away from a shooter some described as wearing body armor.

Jesse Pineda of San Bruno said he was getting a hamburger at Carl's Jr. across the street from the YouTube offices when he heard three shots in rapid succession. A young woman emerged from the office, shot in the left leg.

He helped drag her into the restaurant before hearing more shots. He then ran back toward YouTube and looked through the doorway, where he saw a woman on the ground.

``She was dead, I'm sure of it,'' Pineda said. ``Those 10 shots were rapid fire -- it was no mercy. There were four more shots after that. I wish I had had a gun but I didn't. I had to be smart and get out of there. I had to be fast.''

Eyewitnesses said the entire episode took about 30 seconds. Some had assumed the shooter, whose face was covered, was a man.

``I was in the courtyard and we heard the gunshots, then saw him,'' Salahodeen Abdul-Kafi, a YouTube product manager, wrote on Facebook. ``He had a shooting mask on, full body armor and was calmly walking and firing a handgun. We jumped to the floor then ran as fast as we could.''

Abdul-Kafi said he was OK, ``but I don't know about a lot of co-workers.''

As word filtered out to the crowd waiting behind the police lines that the shooter was dead, many shook their heads sadly and walked away.

At about 3:15 p.m., dozens of strike teams and officers from several local law enforcement agencies packed up their weapons and body armor and trudged back to their patrol cars. At least two armored vehicles remained at the scene late Tuesday afternoon.

The incident prompted elected officials to respond with sorrow and condolences. On Twitter, President Trump said, ``Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTube's HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.''

Chad Hurley, the co-founder of YouTube, tweeted, ``Praying for my friends @YouTube!''

Officials at Google, which owns YouTube, said, ``We are coordinating with authorities and will provide official information here from Google and YouTube as it becomes available.''

Later in the day, helicopters circled overhead as police took statements from witnesses. Dozens of employees stood near a parking garage across the street from the headquarters, using cell phones to contact friends and family and recount what happened.

One group of employees -- who declined to provide their names, citing a YouTube media policy -- said they were sitting at their desks working around 1 p.m. when they heard, ``pop-pop-pop.''

The noises sounded like they came from the courtyard, the employees said. But they initially dismissed the sound as that of people moving equipment. Then, people started running ``like something serious was happening.''

One employee said he saw two shattered glass doors. The group hid inside an office for about 20 minutes until police came and cleared them out.

Just south of YouTube, a Carl's Jr. employee, Michael Finney, 21, spoke of helping the wounded woman who came to the restaurant. He said he was working about 1:30 p.m. when a young woman stumbled in with a gunshot wound to her left leg. She had been shot in the parking lot, he said.

``She was pretty calm,'' Finney said. ``I got a bungee cord and tied it around her leg to stop the bleeding. I asked her why someone would shoot her and she said she didn't know.''

Fed Krysko, 21, of San Bruno, said he was visiting a friend at Carl's Jr. when employees began coming out of YouTube with their hands up.

``This is insane,'' Krysko said. ``I've lived here seven years and there's never been anything like this before. This is what you see happening all over the country, but not in San Bruno.''

Todd Sherman, who identified himself as a YouTube product manager on his Twitter page, said he was sitting in a meeting and then heard that people were running. ``First thought was earthquake,'' he said.

``We headed towards the exit and then saw more people and someone said that there was a person with a gun,'' Sherman wrote on Twitter. ``I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peeked around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front.''

Sherman wrote that he and his co-workers spread out in different directions after the incident.

``We're such a quiet town -- this is bizarre,'' said Terry Jones, a 23-year resident of San Bruno, who was among the crowd that lingered after the shooting. ``We've got some lunatics, sure, but it's unusual to have something go so big.

''I guess that pipeline explosion was the last time,`` he said, referring to the rupture of a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. natural gas pipeline in a San Bruno neighborhood, which killed eight people in September 2010.

He shook his head sadly, saying, ''At least it wasn't little kids getting shot.``