(KRON) — A 38-year-old San Leandro man who threatened to go on a “killing spree” at YouTube’s San Bruno campus is now behind bars with no bail, prosecutors said.
Maxwell Zookshakur Littleton IV appeared in a San Mateo County courtroom Wednesday for a bail hearing.
Littleton fell under the radar of local law enforcement after he was reported by Google’s Cybercrime Investigation Team. Google investigators traced a series of menacing messages written on X, formerly known as Twitter, back to his YouTube account, prosecutors said.
“The messages contained explicit threats to YouTube and its employees, (threatened) to shoot and kill multiple people at the campus. The threats warned he was going to go on a killing spree,” the District Attorney’s Office wrote.
YouTube is owned by Google. Google investigators and local police officers determined that the messages had been written at Littleton’s San Leandro home. Littleton was arrested by San Bruno Police Department officers on February 12.
Prosecutors charged him with a felony, making criminal threats. He pleaded not guilty.
Investigators have not released a motive behind why Littleton allegedly threatened employees of the video-sharing platform. A police report with more details was sealed by the court.
On Wednesday, Judge Susan Jakubowski ordered the defendant to return to court on March 13 for a preliminary hearing.
YouTube employees have been targeted by disgruntled users in the past. In 2018, a woman opened fire in a courtyard of the company’s San Bruno headquarters before she fatally shot herself, police said. Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, was a vegan bodybuilder, artist, and animal rights advocate who had a vendetta against YouTube.
Three victims suffered gunshot injuries in the 2018 shooting. On social media, Aghdam called YouTube a dictatorial website for censoring her videos and not paying her.
YouTube has been headquartered in San Bruno since 2006. Last year, YouTube opened new offices at 1400 and 1450 Bayhill Drive, which are adjacent to its headquarters at 901 Cherry Avenue.
