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Shock, Pity for Iranian-American YouTube Shooter in Tehran


Officers run toward a YouTube office in San Bruno, Calif., Tuesday, April 3, 2018. Police and federal officials have responded to reports of a shooting Tuesday at YouTube headquarters in Northern California.
Officers run toward a YouTube office in San Bruno, Calif., Tuesday, April 3, 2018. Police and federal officials have responded to reports of a shooting Tuesday at YouTube headquarters in Northern California.

Tehran residents have expressed pity and shock that an Iranian-American woman, relatively known in Iran's social media circles, was the shooter at YouTube headquarters in California who wounded three people before killing herself.

Many said on Thursday they don't understand what could have prompted Nasim Aghdam - who posted videos under the online name of Nasime Sabz - to resort to shooting.

Hossein Naderi, a 23-year-old art student, questioned why Aghdam chose to "live in the U.S. though she didn't like it there." He says: "I wish I was there to use YouTube freely."

Aghdam also ran a Farsi-language public channel on the messaging app Telegram, which had 6,000 followers. Telegram reportedly has some 40 million users in Iran.

Hamideh Heidari, a 35-year-old veiled teacher, says Aghdam needed "psychiatric help."

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