US

10 Reportedly Shot And Killed In San Jose Shooting

(Screenshot/Twitter/Public — User: @PoliticusSarah)

Bradley Devlin General Assignment & Analysis Reporter
Font Size:

Ten people are reportedly dead and multiple others injured after shots rang out at a San Jose, California, rail yard Wednesday.

The shooting took place at a light rail facility around 6:30 a.m., CNN reported. The facility, which serves as a storage and maintenance yard for trains, is adjacent to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department and across the street from the San Jose airport, according to The Associated Press.

Originally, nine people were reported dead, including the shooter. Local Fox affiliate KTVU reported late Wednesday night that a ninth victim was reported dead, bringing the total to 10.

At first, Santa Clara County sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Russell Davis could not confirm the extent of the human carnage.  “I can’t confirm the exact number of injuries and fatalities but I will tell you that they are multiple injuries and multiple fatalities in this case,” Davis told the AP. Davis did confirm that “the suspect is confirmed deceased,” according to the AP, and that employees of the Valley Transportation Authority were among those injured or killed in the shooting.

Since, authorities have announced that eight are confirmed dead, and that the gunman was an employee of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, according to the New York Times. Sam Liccardo, the mayor of San Jose, said the gunman’s house caught fire and burned down.

“It appears that the suspect’s house is on fire but that there was nobody inside,” Liccardo claimed, according to The New York Times. The mayor also said that hundreds of rounds of ammunition were discovered in the burned home, The New York Times noted. “There’s a strange connection here between arson and the shooting.”

The Valley Transportation Authority, which employs about 2,000 workers, said its service was not impacted by the shooting, according to CNN. Chairman of the Valley Transportation Authority’s board, Glenn Hendricks, claimed the shooting occurred out in the rail yard and not at the facility’s operations control center, according to The New York Times.

Employees at the scene were evacuated after the incident as first responders executed a rescue mission in order to get those injured or at risk away safely, Davis told The New York Times.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents have also reportedly been dispatched to the scene and are taking part in the investigation. Authorities believed the shooter may have planted explosives in the building, and bomb squads were working in order to make sure the workplace was clear of any suspicious devices, according to The New York Times. (RELATED: City Sees 4 Homicides And A Quadruple Shooting In First Weekend Of May)

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom was briefed shortly after the shooting occurred, according to CNN. Since, Newsom has spoken to reporters about the shooting.

“It begs the damn question, what the hell is going on in the United States of America?” Newsom said, according to The New York Times. “What the hell is wrong with us, and when are we going to come to grips with this?”

Newsom said lawmakers need to “take a little damn responsibility, all of us, to do a little bit more and a little bit better this time, and move beyond the platitudes and the usual rhetoric that tends to mark not just these moments but the aftermath of these moments,” The New York Times report also noted.