If Nasim Aghdam harbored any rage or violent tendencies, they didn’t reveal themselves in a 2014 interview in which she espoused the “peaceful,” healthful lifestyle she enjoyed as a vegan, a bodybuilder and an activist dedicated to bringing lasting change in the world.

“It is not a just a diet,” Aghdam said about her vegan lifestyle and philosophy. “It’s a belief that affects all stages of life such as relationship with animals, people, nature and daily choices.”

In the interview that appeared on the site PeacefulDumpling.com, the Iranian-born self-described artist and self-described “first ever” female Persian bodybuilder added: “Veganism is a diet of peace for all caring citizens of this planet, humans and non-human animals, and it is the most effective strategy to save the planet from climate changes and global warming.”

Those lofty ideals confronted devastating reality Tuesday when Aghdam turned up at the YouTube headquarters in San Bruno around lunchtime and opened fire in an outside courtyard, injuring three people, before fatally shooting herself.

San Bruno chief Ed Barberini said the shooting seemed motivated by Aghdam’s anger at YouTube’s “policies and practices.” Her father Ismail Aghdam, of San Diego, told the Bay Area News Group that his 38-year-old daughter was disgruntled about YouTube censoring the videos she posted on at least four channels.

Her brother Shahran Aghdam also told reporters outside the family’s home in Riverside County: “She was always complaining that YouTube ruined her life.”

In her interview, Aghdam said she had established a website, a short-lived nonprofit charity called PeaceThunder and YouTube channels in English, Farsi and Turkish to promote her vegan views. Her “educational” efforts included posting cooking tutorials, workout tips, pop culture-inspired animal rights testimonials, as well as graphic animal abuse videos.

But recent posts on her website and social media accounts showed her growing frustration with YouTube. She ranted against the company for what she said was censorship and discrimination against her.

That kind of anger was not apparent in her 2014 interview, nor in a post she shared on another vegan website, the Interfaith Vegan Alliance, about how her veganism was aligned with her Baha’i Faith, a religion that originated in Iran and teaches the value of all religions and promotes “a unifying vision of the future of society.”

As Ismail Aghdam said, his daughter was an animal lover from a young age, unable to even kill ants that invaded the family home in Iran. Nasim Aghdam noted that Iran, like many other places, was a “meat-eating country.”

“From a very young age I used to care about the animals and their welfare, and think about the source of meat and where it came from and I knew that the fried chicken on my dinner plate once was a beautiful yellow chick!” she said.

Aghdam said she grew up opposed to eating meat or wearing animal skin. The family moved to the United States in 1996 when she would have been a teenager. She said her family encouraged her to eat meat, but she said she had “faith” that her belief was was “true and that meat is not a food of compassion and kindness.”

At some point, she became a vegan, which, for her became about more than not eating or wearing animal products.

“Following a vegan, especially raw vegan, diet benefits our health, animal welfare and survival of the planet earth because animal products are one of the major causes of environmental pollution and destruction,” she said. She also found that a vegan diet helped her bodybuilding, making her feel “healthier and lighter, even more energetic.”

In 2009, Aghdam joined a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals protest outside Camp Pendleton, near San Diego. She told the San Diego Union-Tribune: “For me, animal rights equal human rights.”

That protest represented the extent of her involvement with PETA, a spokesperson for the organization told the Bay Area News Group. “She appeared at a few demonstrations about nine years ago, but changed her phone number and dropped out of sight,” the spokesperson said.

Aghdam’s violence Tuesday left her family mystified, though they said they had warned police that she might be in the Bay Area because of she might “do something” against YouTube — an assertion police have disputed. Her brother said he didn’t know she had purchased a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun.

Aghdam herself closed her interview by repeating her belief that people cannot find love and peace until they give up killing “non-human animals” for food and other uses. But she added: “Life is beautiful if we know what the word beautiful really means!”