President Trump and Business leaders react to YouTube HQ shooting

Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple boss Tim Cook took to social media.
By Kevin Eli,
US President Donald Trump and tech giants have reacted to Tuesday’s YouTube HQ shooting. Above screenshots from NBC's news coverage related to the incident.

US President Donald Trump and tech giants have reacted to Tuesday’s YouTube HQ shooting that left three employees injured by issuing statements in support of YouTube employees.

Employees of Google-owned video-sharing service fled their office into adjoining streets. It has been reported that a 39-year old woman Nasim Aghdam opened fire at YouTube’s headquarters in San Bruno, California wounding three, and died from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. 

Trump took to social media and tweeted, “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.”

Likewise, besides Google, iPhone maker Apple, software behemoth Microsoft and online giant Twitter issued statements expressing support to the victims and employees of YouTube.

“There are no words to describe the tragedy that occurred today. Susan Wojcicki & I are focused on supporting our employees & the YouTube community through this difficult time together. Thank you to the police and first responders for their efforts, and to all for msgs of support,” Pichai wrote on Twitter. 

In addition to the tweet, the Search engine titan published Pichai’s full statement:

According to Fox News, Aghdam described herself as a “vegan bodybuilder and animal rights activist” promoting a “healthy and humane lifestyle” and wanted revenge on YouTube for 'de-monetizing' her videos. Her pages were littered with strange workout videos, vegan cooking tutorials mixed with graphic animal abuse videos.

Apple's CEO Tim Cook also joined other business heads expressing sorrow and sent "sympathy and support to the team at YouTube and Google" from everyone at Apple.

In the meanwhile, hackers were actively compromising a verified Twitter account belonging to Vadim Lavrusik, a product manager at YouTube to spread misinformation, and used the high-profile account to implicate a YouTube broadcaster in the shooting.

Twitter has struggled with misinformation around breaking news events in the past, and a number of other YouTube celebrities have already been wrongly reported as involved in today’s shooting, The Verge noted.

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