A transit employee who gunned down nine co-workers and killed himself at a Northern California rail yard was said to be “highly disgruntled” long before carrying out the latest U.S. shooting rampage, the worst mass shooting in the San Francisco Bay Area in decades.
The perpetrator of the attack, identified as Samuel Cassidy, a 57-year-old, killed nine co-workers at a rail yard in Northern California.
The workers there were considered people the public rarely saw, performing essential work behind the scenes of the Valley Transportation Authority. It was them who made it possible for tens of thousands of Californians to go to work on time. The youngest among the dead was 29, while the oldest was 63. Some were described as joyous and playful, and the others, more serious.
The victims of the attack were found in two buildings on the site, near the city’s airport.
At a news conference, California Mayor Sam Liccardo hailed these essential workers for helping the city get through this difficult period.
Liccardo:
They were showing up every day to operate light rail and buses, to ensure people could still continue to go about their lives, amid all the challenges, the pandemic, and they were taking risks with their own lives in doing so.
On Wednesday, authorities said the gunman set fire to his house just before heading to the railyard. Nobody was found inside the home and the blaze was quickly extinguished.
The attack was the latest of at least nine U.S. mass shootings over the past three months that each claimed four or more lives. This includes a litany of attacks in Atlanta and a shooting rampage at a Colorado supermarket.
Studying the evidence with a fine-tooth comb, Californian authorities say they would stop at nothing to get to the bottom of the incident.
Victims and their families mourned the dead on Thursday during a vigil at City Hall attended by dozens of supporters who joined in a rendition of “Amazing grace”.
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