The Mountain View Police Department on Friday released body camera video of two officers’ interaction with a woman who later opened fire at YouTube headquarters earlier this month.
Nasim Aghdam, 39, eventually shot and injured three people at the San Bruno location before she killed herself.
The video, however, shows a calm and collected Nasim Aghdam as officers asked her why her family in San Diego had reported her as an at risk missing person.
The roughly 30-minute long video also shows audio of the officers communicating with their dispatch center about Aghdam.
One officer found Aghdam’s vehicle about 1:40 a.m. April 3. The vehicle matched the description of the missing person’s report her family had filed for her earlier.
The officer checked to see if anyone was inside the vehicle, the video shows. Aghdam was sleeping inside and a check of her records did not reveal any instances or threats of violence.
A second, female, officer arrived and they called the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department to confirm the missing person report for Aghdam.
The officers discussed why Aghdam may be at risk before they eventually knocked on her car window to wake her.
The officers notified her of the missing persons report and she told them she had left her family after she was not getting along with them.
She told the officers that she had left her cellphone in San Diego County, but she had gotten a new one. They ask her if she was on any medication and Aghdam shook her head no. They then asked her if she wanted to commit suicide, and she again shook her head.
When the officers asked her why she had come to Mountain View, she told them that she wanted to start a new life away from San Diego.
The officers eventually told Aghdam that her father will be informed that she was found in Mountain View. The interaction ended about two minutes later.
Aghdam appeared calm and collected during the interaction, the video shows.
In their news release accompanying the video, police explain that Aghdam answered all their questions “ cooperatively and thoroughly,” and there was no reason to continue questioning her.
After the video stopped recording, one of the officers called Aghdam’s father to inform him that she had been found.
He communicated the interaction with the father and when he understood the two hung up.
About an hour later, police said, the father, Ismail Aghdam, called the officer back and told him his daughter had become upset about YouTube changes that had impacted her videos about living a vegan lifestyle.
Ismail Aghdam, however, did not bring up any concerns about his daughter’s behavior or any potential violence she might carry out on herself or others, police said.
In a statement, Mountain View Police Chief Max Bosel said that his officers followed proper protocol.
“They checked on the welfare of a person who, at the time, was reported missing but whose actions, demeanor, and answers did not present any information which would cause us to believe she would be a threat to herself or others,” said Chief Max Bosel. “The tragedy of the incident at YouTube weighs heavily on our hearts but we support and stand by the actions taken by our officers in their contact with Ms. Aghdam.”
