Worker kills 8, self at San Jose transit facility

At least eight people were killed in a mass shooting on Wednesday at a Northern California light-rail facility, and the shooter, an employee at the facility, killed himself as police rushed in, authorities said.

"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 told reporters. Deputies "were going through hallways saying, 'Sheriff's office!' He knew at that time that his time for firing shots was over."

The attacker was identified as 57-year-old Sam Cassidy, according to two law enforcement officials.

His ex-wife, Cecilia Nelms, told The Associated Press that Cassidy had a bad temper and would tell her that he wanted to kill people at work, "but I never believed him, and it never happened. Until now."

Nelms said her ex-husband would come home wound up and angry about things that happened at work. As he talked about it, "he would get more mad", she said. "He could dwell on things."

When Cassidy lost his temper, Nelms said there were times she was scared. He was someone who could physically hurt others, she said.

Nelms said they were married for 10 years — Cassidy filed for divorce in 2005 — and hadn't been in contact for 13 years. She said he had been treated for depression.

Sheriff's spokesman Deputy Russell Davis said he didn't know the type of weapon used in the attack. Bomb squads searched the rail complex after receiving information about possible explosive devices, he said.

The sheriff's office bomb squad was on the scene. "It's going to take a long time to render these areas safe. They have to go through every room in every building to ensure that everything is safe," said Davis.

The incident happened at 6:34 am in downtown San Jose. When deputies responded to the scene, shots were still being fired in the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) building, Smith said at a livestreamed media briefing.

All the victims were also VTA employees, and six of the bodies were still inside the VTA building, while two were removed, according to Smith.

The VTA provides bus, light rail and other transit services throughout Santa Clara County, the most populated county in the San Francisco Bay Area. The facility in San Jose includes a transit-control center, parking for trains and a maintenance yard.

Members of a union representing VTA workers were meeting when the shooting began, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said, but it's not clear if the meeting was related to the attack.

Authorities didn't identify the victims, who included transit employees. Grief-stricken families sat huddled together after learning they had lost a loved one, District Attorney Jeff Rosen told reporters.

"They're just sitting and holding hands and crying," Rosen said. "It's terrible. It's awful. It's raw. People are learning they lost their husband, their son, their brother."

Officials also were investigating a house fire that broke out shortly before the shooting, Davis said. Public records show Cassidy owned a two-story home where firefighters responded. Fire crews found a fast-moving blaze after being notified by a passer-by. A neighboring house also caught fire, authorities said.

Cassidy had worked for the VTA since at least 2012, according to the public payroll and pension database known as Transparent California, the AP reported. His position from 2012 to 2014 was listed as a mechanic. After that, he maintained substations, according to the records.

California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized gun violence in his speech at Wednesday's media briefing, naming some high-profile massing shootings in the state, including the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting in 2019, which left four dead, and the San Bernardino shooting in 2015, which caused 16 deaths.

"Anywhere, USA. It feels like this happens over and over and over again. Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat," said the governor.

"Pick a state, and here we are in the United States of America, all experiencing something just as not experienced anywhere else in the world," he said. "There's a sameness to that. And that numbness, I think, is something we're all feeling."

At the White House, President Joe Biden ordered flags to be flown at half-staff and urged Congress to act on legislation 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 said in a statement.

San Jose, the 10th-largest city in the US with more than a million people, is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of San Francisco, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Wednesday's attack was Santa Clara County's second shooting in less than two years. A gunman killed three people and then himself at the popular garlic festival in Gilroy in July 2019.