YouTuber travels cross country to confront Google: police

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California -- Kyle Long, 33, was determined to make his way from his home in Maine to California over the weekend. However, there was a hiccup in his trip once he hit Iowa on Friday.

Long was involved in a minor car crash, vandalized a gas station bathroom, and shared some information with Iowa State Patrol.

"At some point during their talking with him, he mentioned that he was upset at Google and at YouTube for shutting down his YouTube channel," Katie Nelson, Mountain View Police Department's spokesperson, said.

Iowa state troopers gave a heads up to Mountain View PD about the encounter. Later in the weekend, Police in Maine had another red flag about Long.

"That he was on his way to Google, and that if things didn't go his way, he was possibly going to physically harm individuals," Nelson said.

Police said Long had a plan to meet with Google executives. Mountain View officers were staged in and around the Googleplex, on major highways, and notified other Google campuses.

A trooper spotted Long on Sunday in a truck with a Maine license plate on Highway 101, near the exit that is up the road from Google's headquarters.

Officers found baseball bats and directions on how to get to Mountain View in Long's car as they arrested him.

"I didn't know about this, you know? I don't know, we just need to find a better way to let the coworkers or the employees know that this happened," Eduardo Herrera, a café employee at Google's headquarters said.

Herrera and many other employees Eyewitness News spoke to didn't know about the incident.

The story has some eerie similarities to a case last year, when a disgruntled Youtuber began shooting at the San Bruno office.

"Yeah it's crazy just thinking about it," Herrera said.

Police said the difference in Long's case is that officers knew what to expect.

Long is being held on $25,000 bail at the Santa Clara County Jail. Police said they hope to be notified if and when he's released and will alert Google.

Google and Long have not responded to Eyewitness News' request for comment.