U.S. News
Railyard gunman fatally shot 9 people allegedly for revenge [Video]
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- Samuel Cassidy, 57, killed nine people at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, his company for years.
- Reportedly, the motive was revenge as he harbored hatred over the workplace.
- His ex-wife said that he talked about killing people at work more than a decade ago, but “it never happened, until now.”
Samuel Cassidy, 57, murdered nine people at a California rail yard facility apparently out of hatred for his workplace for years. Cassidy reportedly targeted some of his victims and spared some others.
Cassidy was a longtime employee of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), and the savage attack at the facility was purportedly done out of revenge, according to authorities. Apparently, he stalked particular people prior to the slaughter.
“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.
The suspect sprayed 39 shots during the Wednesday morning massacre, carrying three semiautomatic 9 mm handguns and 32 individual high-capacity handgun magazines loaded with additional ammunition.
Cassidy shot himself after carrying out the slaughter.
“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 said Wednesday.
The cause of the killing was still under investigation. “I’m not sure we’ll ever actually find the real motive, but we’ll piece it together as much as we can from witnesses,” the sheriff told the Associated Press.
He worked for the VTA for years, with the public payroll website Transparent California showing he was a mechanic with $118,709 earnings in 2012 and a substation maintainer earning $160,508 in 2019.
The nine victims were identified as Paul Delacruz Megia, 42; Taptejdeep Singh, 36; Adrian Balleza, 29; Jose Dejesus Hernandez, 35; Timothy Michael Romo, 49; Michael Joseph Rudometkin, 40; Alex Ward Fritch, 49; Abdolvahab Alaghmandan, 63; and Lars Kepler Lane, 63.
According to a Biden administration official, Cassidy spoke about hating his workplace when custom officers detained him in 2016, after a trip to the Philippines. The reason for the detainment remained unclear.
More than a decade ago, Cassidy talked about killing people at work to his ex-wife Cecilia Nelms.
“I never believed him, and it never happened. Until now,” Nelms told the AP.
She added, “He had two sides. When he was in a good mood, he was a great guy. When he was mad, he was mad.”
Source: Daily News
GomeznSA
May 28, 2021 at 2:11 pm
Since he apparently used 9mm handguns the immediate cry from the white house was to ban AR pattern rifles. And they wonder why people don’t trust their gun-control ‘logic’.
Aren’t ‘high capacity’ magazines effectively prohibited in kalypornia? Yet another case of ‘laws’ NOT working.
Tragedy any way you present it but as usual the blood dancers can’t wait to exploit it by trying to punish some 100 million Law Abiding Citizens who did nothing wrong.
Charles
May 28, 2021 at 11:38 pm
First, I want to say to the families that I am very sorry to them of losing a loved one in a senseless murder. This is all it is. I will be praying for the families, and friends of these victims now, and in the days to come. Taking a Innocent persons life is wrong anyway you look at it. What caused this murderer to do this may never be known for sure. These families needs a lot of friends, and mostly God to help them through this time of need. Then it still will be hard. I just can’t imagine their pain, and agony. God Bless all of them.
Still this has nothing to do with how they were killed. the guns didn’t pull the trigger themselves. Any amount of gun laws want stop something like this. The only thing that could help this is more law abiding citizens carrying concealed weapons, and more security officers at the places of work that may could have stopped some of these shootings when they occur. Also, having harder ways of people to get into the places of work that don’t belong there. This is a time where all companies should look at upgrading their security at work places in times like this.Don’t ban guns from honest law abiding citizens.