Motive remains a mystery in San Jose mass shooting
Fox News correspondent Claudia Cowan joins ‘Special Report’ with the latest on the workplace massacre
The suspect who police say killed 9 people at a San Jose, California, light railyard Wednesday morning was due to attend a disciplinary hearing that day over claims of racist remarks he made on the job about co-workers, according to reports.
Police identified Samuel Cassidy, a maintenance worker, as the man who gunned down his co-workers at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) facility around 6 a.m. Wednesday.
Cassidy appeared to be a “highly disgruntled VTA employee for many years, which may have contributed to why he targeted VTA employees,” the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Thursday. Cassidy had worked at the VTA for nine years.
Five years ago, Cassidy was detained by U.S. customs and border personnel over some suspicious writing in his possession as he returned from a trip to the Philippines.
SAN JOSE SHOOTER WAS ON FEDS’ RADAR IN 2016, QUESTIONED ABOUT HATRED OF HIS JOB
Authorities found him to be carrying books about terrorism and notes about how much he hated the VTA, according to a Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
Customs and Border Protection officials reportedly found a black memo book “filled with lots of notes about how he hates the VTA.” His baggage and electronic media were also inspected, the DHS memo said.
Cassidy allegedly bragged about having guns and explosives, KNTV-TV of San Jose reported, but it was unclear if that information was meant to be part of Wednesday’s Skelly hearing, which was to precede any potential disciple or termination.
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Investigators found three 9 mm handguns at the scene and multiple loaded magazines. Cassidy’s ex-wife said he had talked about killing people at work more than a decade ago.
Authorities have given no official motive for the massacre.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
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