The gun that killed him nine people at a California railway station where he worked appeared to be shooting some of the victims, an official told The Associated Press on Thursday, with Biden’s boss saying the bomber spoke harshly to his workplace when security forces detained him during his 2016 visit to the Philippines.
Samuel Cassidy, 57, he arrived at the Valley Transportation Authority railway station in San Jose at 6:30 a.m. local time (13:30 GMT) Wednesday carrying a bag full of homemade guns and enough magazines, said Sheriff County Santa Clara Laurie Smith.
“It seems to us right now that he said to one of the people there: ‘I’m not going to shoot you,” Smith said. “Then he shot some people. That’s why, I guess there was some idea who he wanted to shoot.”
Although there were no cameras inside the two railway buildings, Smith said the film caught him walking from place to place. It took the supervisors six minutes from the first 911 phone to find Cassidy on the third floor of the building, Smith said.
He committed suicide when his ministers were detained in a service center of more than a million people in central Silicon Valley. More than 100 people were present at the time, and authorities found five people involved in one house and two in another, Smith said.
Officials still do not know if Cassidy worked regularly with some of the victims. The investigators were issuing search warrants for his home and mobile phone, in an attempt to determine the cause of the bloodshed, the sheriff said.
“I don’t believe we will ever find a real goal, but we will connect as much as we can with the witnesses,” he said.
When he was arrested in 2016, Cassidy was found to be in possession of a notebook in which he criticized the Valley Transportation Authority, according to a Biden official who quoted the Department of International Monitoring report citing Cassidy’s remarks. The official reviewed the document and explained the contents of the Associated Press but was not allowed to comment publicly on the ongoing investigation.
The Wall Street Journal began reporting on memo.
Memo did not say why he was suspended by customs officials. He also said he had books on “terrorism and terrorism and manifestos” but when asked if he met people at work, he said no. It also said Cassidy had a “minor criminal record” and referred to the 1983 arrests in San Jose and charges related to “disturbing / denying a peace officer.”
Cassidy’s ex-wife said she talked about workplace murders more than a decade ago. Documents show that he had been in the running business since at least 2012.
“I never believed him, and it never happened. So far, “Cecilia Nelms in tears told AP on Wednesday.
He also said he came home angry and upset at what they saw as unfair activities.
“They can just think of things,” he said. The couple had been married for about 10 years until divorce in 2005, and had not been in contact with Cassidy for nearly 13 years, Nelms said.
Victims
Long-term workers were killed, many of them working together.
“What happened yesterday, shows the character of the boys as they tried to save others in the event of a crisis,” said Naunihal Singh, a railway supervisor.
The victims were Alex Ward Fritch, 49; Paul Delacruz Megia, 42 years old; Taptejdeep Singh, 36 years old; Adrian Balleza, 29 years old; Jose Dejesus Hernandez, 35 years old; Timothy Michael Romo, 49 years old; Michael Joseph Rudometkin, 40; Abdolvahab Alaghmandan, 63, and Lars Kepler Lane, 63.
To his friends, Lars Lane was an unemployed, ordinary man who enjoyed spending time with his family and doing other work outside of his job at the Valley Transportation Authority.
He was a husband, father, grandmother, and brother to five brothers, said Brad Fisher, a childhood friend, in a telephone interview with Reuters. He was “an ordinary man who did amazing things,” Fisher said. Cyclist and “all the work,” Lane often enjoys doing chores around the house such as building a pool behind him.
Fisher, 66, said Lane was proud of his work at VTA, and once showed Fisher around the railroad, even allowing him to ride the train for a fun moment.
India-born Taptejdeep Singh, 36, is always looking to help people – conditions that took a toll on him on Wednesday, Kashmir Singh Shahi said in a telephone interview.
“They told me they were with Paul, who was beaten at the time,” co-worker Sukhvir Singh, who is not related to Taptejdeep Singh, said in a statement. “From what I heard, he spent the last minutes of his life making sure that others – in this house and elsewhere – could be safe.”
Paul Delacruz Megia, 42, left three children, KRON television said. Megia is remembered by friends on social media for her good sense of humor. In a Facebook post, her childhood friend Monica Lennon wrote that Megia had a “little” look in her eyes and told her “dorky jokes”.
“Thank you so much for making my life so much brighter for your contagious smile,” Lennon wrote.
Phil Guzman, who claimed to have worked with a few of the victims, wrote on Facebook that Megia was “one of the supervisors I had ever worked with”.
Don’t be too busy to listen to any nonsense, stupidity or madness I had. An honest and sincere person, “Guzman said of Megia.
Guzman also knows Adrian Balleza, 29, who was raped on Wednesday. Balleza posted several photos of his wife and son on his Facebook page.
Michael Rudometkin, 40, was a motorcycle, according to his Facebook account. After posting on Facebook in December 2018 to join the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority as a railway worker, Rose Rudometkin’s mother wrote: “Thank you baby!”
Raul Peralez, a San Jose councilor and Rudometkin’s close friend said, “Unfortunately, I know for myself how the nine families felt last night, this morning I believe, I hope your loved one is coming home and I know this will never happen again.”
