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Police body-cam videos of YouTube shooter Nasim Aghdam are released

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A Bay Area police department on Friday released police body camera images of interactions between two of its officers and a woman who would open fire inside the YouTube campus hours later.

The video shows Mountain View police officers approaching Nasim Aghdam, 39, asleep in her car in a shopping center parking lot after 1:35 a.m April 3 and letting her know that she had been classified as a missing person out of San Diego County.

The woman, in a pink hoodie and black yoga pants, appears to be calm and cooperative, answering questions and shaking her head slightly when police ask whether she is suicidal or wants to hurt herself or others.

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During the interaction with police, Aghdam gives no overt indication of the terror that she would inflict less than 12 hours later. Authorities say she slipped onto the tech company’s grounds that afternoon and opened fire, injuring three people before taking her own life.

“In this instance if an individual is cooperative and does not present any sort of threat, continuing to unnecessarily question or delay them can lead to an unwarranted detention,” Mountain View police said in a lengthy statement regarding the release of the video and an explanation of actions by the officers.

Her family members, who live in Menifee in Riverside County, have said they did get that early morning call from police, but then called back to say they thought Aghdam might be in the Bay Area because she had been angry with YouTube over its policies.

Aghdam had her own channel, posting sometimes bizarre videos focusing on workouts and veganism.

In releasing the body camera video, Mountain View police said the department had confirmed that San Bruno authorities no longer needed it as part of their investigation into the attack.

“We understand the public interest in MVPD’s footage, and we believe that sharing our officers’ footage is tantamount to our constant pursuit of transparency,” department officials stated. “To that end, we are now able to provide the content … and we thank you for your patience.”

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teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

Figueroa writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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