SAN JOSE, Calif. – A California transit employee killed nine co-workers before taking his own life on Wednesday, the latest in a spate of deadly US mass shootings, prompting the state’s governor to ask: “What the hell is wrong with us?”
Authorities did not immediately offer many details or a possible motive for the shooting, which unfolded at about 6:30 a.m. Pacific Time (1330 GMT) at a light-rail yard for commuter trains of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), in the heart of Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area.
One of the victims, Paul dela Cruz Megia, 42, was a Filipino, according to reports.
The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that a Filipino was among those killed but has yet to identify the victim.
“The Consulate General is in the process of coordinating with authorities to get more information and is ready to extend assistance, if warranted,” the DFA said in a statement.
The County of Santa Clara medical examiner-coroner’s office identified the other victims as Taptejdeep Singh, Adrian Balleza, Jose Dejesus Hernandez III, Timothy Michael Romo, Michael Joseph Rudometkin, Abdolvahab Alaghmandan and Lars Kepler Lane.
The ninth victim, Alex Ward Fritch, 49, died late Wednesday after he was taken to the hospital in critical condition, the medical examiner’s office said, according to NBC Bay Area.
Authorities did not release the gunman’s name or age. The San Jose Mercury News and other media outlets identified him as Samuel Cassidy, 57, a maintenance worker at the yard.
Cassidy had worked for the transit authority since at least 2012, when he was listed as an “electro-mechanic,” and was promoted to “substation maintainer” in 2015, according to records posted by the nonprofit website Transportation California.
Last year, he earned a salary of $102,000, plus benefits and $20,000 in overtime, the records showed.
A bomb squad was searching the yard and adjacent buildings after at least one explosive device was found, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Deputy Russell Davis said at a news conference.
Sheriff Laurie Smith told reporters that gunfire was still going on when her deputies arrived, and the assailant took his own life, apparently when he realized police were closing in.
