Employee kills 8 at California rail yard mass taking pictures, say police

An worker opened hearth on Wednesday at a California rail yard, killing eight individuals earlier than taking his personal life as regulation enforcement rushed in, authorities stated, marking the newest assault in a yr that has seen a pointy enhance in mass killings because the US emerges from coronavirus restrictions.
The taking pictures occurred round 6.30 am in two buildings which can be a part of a light-weight rail facility for the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), which offers bus, gentle rail and different transit providers all through Santa Clara County, probably the most populated county within the San Francisco Bay Area. The facility features a transit-control centre, parking for trains and a upkeep yard.
“When our deputies went through the door, initially he was still firing rounds. When our deputy saw him, he took his life,” Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith advised reporters. Deputies “were going through hallways saying, Sheriff’s office!’ He knew at that time that his time for firing shots was over”.
A person who was wounded is in vital situation at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, in response to spokesperson Joy Alexiou.

The attacker was recognized as 57-year-old Sam Cassidy, in response to two regulation enforcement officers. Investigators provided no speedy phrase on a doable motive.
Sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Russell Davis stated he didn’t know the kind of weapon used within the assault. Bomb squads have been looking out the complete rail complicated after receiving details about doable explosive units, he stated.
Authorities didn’t determine any of the victims, who included VTA workers.
“These folks were heroes during Covid-19. The buses never stopped running. VTA did not stop running. They just kept at work and now we are really calling on them to be heroes a second time to survive such a terrible, terrible tragedy,” county Supervisor Cindy Chavez stated.
District Attorney Jeff Rosen stated it was his understanding that the taking pictures occurred throughout a gathering.
Grief-stricken households sat huddled collectively after studying they’d misplaced a liked one, Rosen advised reporters, describing the scene inside a county constructing.
“They are just sitting and holding hands and crying,” Rosen stated. “It is terrible. It is awful. It is raw. People are learning they lost their husband, their son, their brother.” He stated about 100 individuals have been inside a household reunification centre.
Police automobiles and crime-scene tape blocked off the world, and reporters have been stored at a distance from the rail yard, which is close to metropolis and depend authorities buildings and the sheriff’s workplace.
California Governor Gavin Newsom leaves a staging space for Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority employees, relations and officers following a taking pictures at one of many company’s rail yards on Wednesday. (Photo: AP)
Officials have been additionally investigating a home hearth that broke out shortly earlier than the taking pictures, Davis stated. Public information present Cassidy owned a two-story house the place firefighters responded. Fire crews discovered a fast-moving blaze after being notified by a passer-by. A neighbouring home additionally caught hearth, authorities stated.
Cassidy had labored for the VTA since not less than 2012, in response to the general public payroll and pension database referred to as Transparent California. His place from 2012 to 2014 was listed as a mechanic. After that, he was a substation maintainer, the information stated.
Trains have been already out on morning runs when the taking pictures occurred. Light rail service was suspended and changed with bus bridges, company chairman Glenn Hendricks advised reporters.
“It is just very difficult for everyone to be able try to wrap their heads around and understand what has happened,” Hendricks stated.
Outside the scene, Michael Hawkins advised The Mercury News that he was ready for his mom, Rochelle Hawkins, who had referred to as him from a co-worker’s cellphone to guarantee him that she was secure.
When the taking pictures began, “she got down with the rest of her co-workers” and dropped her cellphone, he advised the newspaper. Rochelle Hawkins didn’t see the shooter and he or she was unsure how shut she had been to the attacker, her son stated.
Governor Gavin Newsom spoke emotionally in entrance of a county workplace the place flags flew at half-staff. He stated victims’ family members have been “waiting to hear from the coroner, waiting to hear from any of us, just desperate to find out if their brother, their son, their dad, their mom is still alive”.
A lady leaves the scene of a taking pictures at a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority facility on Wednesday. (Photo: AP)
The bloodshed comes amid an increase in mass killings after the pandemic closed many public locations and stored individuals confined to their properties final yr.
A database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University that tracks each mass killing over the past 15 years reveals that the San Jose assault is the fifteenth mass killing up to now in 2021, all of them shootings.
Eighty-six individuals have died within the shootings, in contrast with 106 for all of 2020. It is the sixth mass killing in a public place in 2021. The database defines mass killings as 4 individuals useless, not together with the shooter, that means the general toll of gun violence is far larger when including in smaller incidents.
At the White House, President Joe Biden ordered flags to be flown at half-staff and urged Congress to behave on laws to curb gun violence.
“Every life that is taken by a bullet pierces the soul of our nation. We can, and we must, do more,” Biden stated in an announcement.
San Jose, the Tenth-largest metropolis within the US with greater than one million individuals, is about 50 miles (80 kilometres) south of San Francisco within the coronary heart of Silicon Valley.