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| San Jose Bomb Squad technician and his team meet before entering the scene of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Reuters |
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Employee shoots eight dead at rail yard in San Jose before killing himself: Cops find explosive devices throughout building
Daily Mail
May 26, 2021
Area: San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose
At least nine people are dead and others injured following a mass shooting at a California light rail yard, the county's sheriff's office said Wednesday.
The gunman - identified as Samuel Cassidy - opened fire a little before 7am local time at the yard run by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority near the city's main airport.
The eight victims include Valley Transportation Authority employees. Authorities did not release any of their names.
Cassidy, 57, also died in the shooting. Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said it was 'undetermined' how the maintenance worker at the site died but local reports suggest he turned the gun on himself.
He is also understood to have set fire to his own home before carrying out the rampage, The LA Times reports. Multiple weapons and ammunition are said to have been found there.
Sheriff spokesman Deputy Russell Davis had earlier confirmed 'multiple injuries and multiple fatalities'. A bomb squad was searching the yard after 'at least one' explosive device was found, Davis said.
One employee's mother told KTVU that the shooting occurred during a union meeting. Workers have since been evacuated.
VTA spokesperson Brandi Childress had earlier said the building where the shooting took place required security access, adding: 'We ask for people's prayers.'
Seven victims died at the scene. Two patients were transported to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, according to spokesperson Joy Alexiou. One person was pronounced dead upon arrival, and the other was in critical condition.
Cassidy's father James Cassidy answered the phone to DailyMail.com Wednesday and said: 'I’m sorry, I don’t know what he might have been going through.'
The incident is the latest in a string of mass shootings this year.
The sheriff had tweeted early Wednesday morning: 'Deputies currently on scene for an active shooter investigation in the area of 100 W. Younger Ave. SJ.
'Please stay away from the area. More info to follow.'
The shooting took place at a light rail facility that is next door to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department and across a freeway from the airport.
The facility is a transit control center that stores trains and has a maintenance yard.
First reports of gunfire came at around 6:30am local time.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo tweeted: 'A shooting at the VTA facility on Younger St has left several people being treated, but the situation is still being assessed.
'The shooter is no longer a threat, and the facility has been evacuated. I will update as more information becomes available.'
He later added: 'Our hearts are pained for the families of those we have lost in this horrific shooting. The shooter is deceased, and more information will be provided at 9:30am.
'The Sheriff's Office has set up a reunification center for families at the County Building at 70 Hedding St., near 1st Street. In the @VTA family, we mourn our lost coworkers and pray for the recovery of those being treated.'
'These are, and were, essential workers,' Mayor Liccardo said at a news conference.
'These VTA employees helped us get through this horrific pandemic. They were showing up everyday to operate light rail and buses to ensure people could still go about their lives in the middle of the challenge of the pandemic. And they were taking risks with their own lives in doing so.'
He said he was aware of news reports of a fire at the house of the man the authorities believed to be the shooter.
'That is certainly the information that I have, is that there was a fire at the shooter's home, there was nobody found inside the home, thank God,' Liccardo told CNN affiliate KGO in an interview. 'This is every mayor´s worst nightmare.'
The VTA operates three rail lines; it also runs 70 bus lines in the area.
The authority tweeted Wednesday: 'Confirming that: - Active Shooter at VTA Light Rail Yard around 6:45a - Multiple casualties, extent of injuries being determined - Suspect deceased - Employees evacuated - VTA service not impacted (trains were in service before incident)
'Asking for patience and prayers while @SCCoSheriff determines number of victims and who the suspect was, now confirmed deceased.'
'A horrible tragedy has happened today, and our thoughts and love go out to the VTA family,' VTA Chairman Glenn Hendricks told a news conference.
Outside the scene, Michael Hawkins told The Mercury News that he was waiting for his mother, Rochelle Hawkins, who had called him from a co-worker's phone to assure him that she was safe.
When the shooting started, 'she got down with the rest of her coworkers' and dropped her cellphone, Michael Hawkins told the newspaper. Rochelle Hawkins did not see the shooter, and she was not sure how close she had been to the attacker, her son said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a tweet that his office was 'in close contact with local law enforcement and monitoring this situation closely.'
'Our hearts go out to the victims and their families,' White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
Special agents from the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were responding to the crime scene, officials said.
A spate of mass shootings have unfolded as the country has started to emerge from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In March, eight people, including six women of Asian descent, were shot dead in a string of attacks at day spas in and around Atlanta, and less than a week later, 10 people were killed at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.
San Jose, a city with about 1 million residents, lies at the heart of Silicon Valley, a global center of technological innovation and home of some of America's biggest tech companies.
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