San Jose VTA Light Rail Yard Shooting at Union Meeting

A mass shooting broke out at the San Jose VTA light rail yard during a union meeting in California on the morning of Wednesday, May 26, 2021. Members of the media have reported the suspect’s name as Samuel Cassidy, though authorities have yet to confirm that.

A police spokesman said that there were “eight victims who were pronounced deceased at this point and there was one suspect” who is deceased. He said the numbers could change. He said the sheriff’s department received reports of possible explosives inside the building and were working to clear it.

KTVU-TV reported the union meeting angle. “Shooter is down,” the sheriff’s department wrote on Twitter. The shooter’s motive was not released.

“Law enforcement officials say id of San Jose shooter is Samuel Cassidy. Bomb squad looking into whether devices are at the scene and a nearby residence. 8 victims dead plus shooter killed himself, officials say,” wrote NBC News journalist Jonathan Dienst on Twitter. Authorities have not officially confirmed the name, although people on Twitter quickly gave it as Samuel Cassidy or Sam Cassidy.

Television station CBS 5 reported that at least seven people may have died, including the shooter.

VTA spokesperson Brandi Childress told ABC 7 that “multiple people” were injured, and the San Jose Mercury News reported, via sources, that multiple people are dead. Authorities have not given a number of casualties and victims. The television station reported that the building houses light rail cars and is not open to the general public.

Here’s what you need to know:

The Sheriff’s Department Wrote That Authorities Were Responding to an ‘Active Shooter Investigation’ & Responded to a Fire at the Suspect’s Home

San Francisco Chronicle reporter Demian Bulwa wrote on Twitter, “At the same time a man went on a shooting rampage at a VTA yard in San Jose early Wednesday, firefighters responded to two nearby fires — one of them at a home owned by a person who has worked for the transit agency, records show.”

The Santa Clara County Sheriff confirmed that there was an “active shooter investigation.”

“Deputies currently on scene for an active shooter investigation in the area of 100 W. Younger Ave. SJ. Please stay away from the area. More info to follow,” the department wrote on Twitter.

A sheriff’s department spokesman said in the first news conference that he would have more details shortly. He called it an “ongoing investigation,” and did reveal that “there are VTA employees who are victims.” It wasn’t clear yet whether the shooter was an employee, he said.

He did not have the overall number of victims yet, and he couldn’t confirm whether the mass shooting happened at a meeting or was indoors or outdoors.

The San Jose Mercury News reported that the shooting was “near a VTA light rail yard.”

KTVU based the union meeting report on the account of a woman who said her son was a VTA employee and told her that “the shooting occurred during a union meeting.”

‘Several People’ Were ‘Being Treated,’ the Mayor Tweeted

Sam Liccardo, the mayor of San Jose, tweeted, “A shooting at the VTA facility on Younger St has left several people being treated, but the situation is still being assessed. The shooter is no longer a threat, and the facility has been evacuated. I will update as more information becomes available.”

The victims’ names and conditions were not clear.

READ NEXT: James Brian Chadwell Investigated as Possible Suspect in Notorious Delphi Murders of 2 Girls