The mass shooting at a VTA railyard is the eighth in Northern California in the past five years, and the deadliest in the Bay Area since a shooting at 101 California Street in San Francisco on July 1, 1993.
ONE of the eight fatalities in the mass shooting at a rail yard in San Jose, California in the United States is of Filipino descent, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed Thursday.
“There are eight fatalities in the shooting in California. The Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco is confirming reports that at least one of them is of Filipino descent,” the agency said in a text message.
The victim was identified as Paul dela Cruz Megia, 42 years old.
The mass shooting at a VTA railyard is the eighth in Northern California in the past five years, and the deadliest in the Bay Area since a shooting at 101 California Street in San Francisco on July 1, 1993.
On Wednesday evening, the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office identified the nine victims as Paul Delacruz Megia, 36-year-old Taptejdeep Singh, 29-year-old Adrian Balleza, 35-year-old Jose Dejesus Hernandez III, 49-year-old Timothy Michael Romo, 40-year-old Michael Joseph Rudometkin, 63-year-old Abdolvahab Alaghmandan, 63-year-old Lars Kepler Lane and 49-year-old Alex Ward Fritch.
Fritch was initially taken to a hospital in critical condition but later died of his injuries.
The gunman was identified by multiple sources as Samuel Cassidy, a 57-year-old VTA maintenance worker.
He was a Valley Transportation Authority employee known for nursing grievances and a hot temper.
There was a heavy police presence at Cassidy’s house in San Jose, where a fire erupted before the shooting and was reported shortly after. Bomb squad technicians were at the scene throughout the day.
Authorities would not say how the fire might have started, but explosive devices also were reported in the VTA building, and bomb dogs alerted to the devices, Smith said. Bomb squads were there as well.
About 100 VTA workers, most of them men, and some family members were escorted from the sheriff’s office to a larger auditorium across the street in the county administration. Inside the auditorium, screams and wailing broke out.
The bloodshed comes in a year that has seen a sharp increase in mass killings as the nation emerges from pandemic restrictions that closed many public places and kept people confined to their homes. (NP)
Tags: #UnitedStates, #California, #massshooting, #FilipinoAmericans