Authorities in California are investigating Wednesday's deadly shooting at the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light rail yard in San Jose, California.
The gunman who killed nine people at a San Jose light rail yard Wednesday was a “highly disgruntled” employee of the Valley Transportation Authority who was armed with three semi-automatic handguns and 32 high-capacity magazines, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.
Samuel James Cassidy, 57, opened fire Wednesday morning at the VTA facility, fatally shooting nine coworkers before killing himself, authorities have said. Cassidy fired 39 rounds during the rampage and appeared to target his victims, Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith told CNN.
“Based on recent developments in the investigation we can say that the suspect has been a highly disgruntled VTA employee for many years, which may have contributed to why he targeted VTA employees,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release Thursday.
The sheriff’s office also confirmed that three semi-automatic 9mm handguns were found at the scene, which included “32 individual high capacity handgun magazines loaded with additional ammunition.”
Detectives are continuing to conduct interviews and are reviewing video and cell phone evidence in hopes of determining a motive for the shooting, the sheriff’s office said.
The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
It doesn’t appear that follow up action was taken after the search, the official said.
Authorities have not determined a motive in the killings but the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday, Cassidy “has been a highly disgruntled VTA employee for many years, which may have contributed to why he targeted VTA employees.”
After mass shooting incidents, CBP and other federal law enforcement agencies typically review their files to determine if they have had any prior interaction with the suspect. Following the 2016 inspection, Cassidy traveled at least one more time to the Philippines, the official said, but it's unclear if he was extensively searched after that subsequent trip.
CBP has broad authority to search travelers at ports of entry to the US, like airports.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, declined to comment on the case, citing the ongoing investigation.
“DHS cannot comment on the specifics of this case given the ongoing investigation into the shooting in San Jose. Under the leadership of Secretary Mayorkas, in February, DHS commenced a department-wide review which included efforts to ensure law enforcement personnel have the tools and training to identify behavioral indicators associated with targeted violence and policy to improve information sharing with our partners," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.
The gunman in the mass shooting at a San Jose light rail yard Wednesday has been identified by the Santa Clara County coroner’s office as 57-year-old Samuel James Cassidy.
Cassidy killed nine employees at the Valley Transportation Authority before shooting himself, authorities have said.
“The staff and leadership of the Medical Examiner-Coroner and the entire County of Santa Clara leadership want to reiterate their deepest condolences to the families and individuals impacted by this senseless tragedy,” the office said in a statement.
Authorities have recovered three handguns carried by the shooter during his Wednesday attack at the Valley Transportation Authority, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s department spokesperson Russell Davis tells CNN.
Previously, officials said two handguns had been recovered.
According to the newspaper, Sam Cassidy possessed “books about terrorism and fear and manifestos… as well as a black memo book filled with lots of notes about how he hates the VTA,” when Customs and Border Protection held him in 2016 after a trip to the Philippines, the memo said.
“When asked if he had problems with anybody at work, he stated ‘no,’” according to the memo, a copy of which the Wall Street Journal said it had viewed.
The memo, the newspaper said, was distributed within Homeland Security after Wednesday morning’s shooting that ended when Cassidy killed himself.
Department of Homeland Security officials and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to CNN requests for comment. Authorities have not yet determined a motive for the shooting.
Earlier Thursday, Sheriff Laurie Smith told CNN the gunman fired 39 rounds during his rampage and appeared to target his victims.
Multiple federal agencies including the FBI, ATF and Homeland Security have joined in the investigation.
Investigators preliminarily believe the gunman who opened fire on his coworkers Wednesday at a San Jose light rail yard fired 39 rounds and appeared to target his victims, Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith told CNN.
During his rampage, the shooter told a local union official who was present but did not work for the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), “I’m not going to shoot you,” the sheriff told CNN.
Earlier Thursday, Smith said the gunman had two semi-automatic handguns and 11 magazines on him when he opened fire at the VTA facility, killing nine people and himself.
The handguns were “the type that would be legal in California,” Smith said, without going into greater detail.
During a sweep of the scene at the VTA facility, bomb sniffing dogs were alerted to Cassidy’s locker and found “precursor things for explosives and so then there was the fire at his house and I know there was another bomb squad there looking at and I know they found additional rounds of ammo,” Smith said.
She said the precursor devices included detonation pulls and “a lot more” found at his home, but could not go into detail on the materials found.
CNN also defines a mass shooting as a shooting in which at least four people were wounded or injured.
There have been 17 mass shootings in the past week, a CNN analysis of the archive shows.
San Jose's Valley Transportation Authority is expected to hold a briefing soon following yesterday's deadly shooting.