Police Investigating Two Fires Linked to CA Rail Yard Shooting
By Matthias Gafni
Source San Francisco Chronicle
At nearly the same time that a Valley Transportation Authority employee went on a deadly shooting rampage at a maintenance yard in San Jose early Wednesday, firefighters responded to two nearby fires — one of them at the home of the reported shooter, who worked for the transit agency, records show.
Multiple published reports said the shooter was Samuel James Cassidy, whose home less than 10 miles from the scene burned Wednesday morning. He allegedly killed eight people before turning the gun on himself.
San Jose firefighters responded to a structure fire on the 1800 block of Smith Avenue at a plywood and lumber business at about 6:29 a.m., five minutes before the first call for a shooting at the VTA light-rail yard about 5 miles away at 101 West Younger Ave.
The blaze reached two alarms before the Fire Department tweeted that it was under control at 8:59 a.m.
"Fire started outside and spread to nearby commercial building," the department said in a tweet. "Destroyed non-residential out building in nearby mobile home park. No injuries to civilians or firefighters."
At 6:36 a.m., two minutes after the first gunshots were reported to police at the maintenance yard, firefighters responded to a house fire on the 1100 block of Angmar Court in San Jose.
San Jose mass shooting
The house, about eight miles away from the maintenance yard and a couple miles from the lumber business, is a single-family residence. That fire also reached two alarms and was knocked down at 7:27 a.m., the department reported.
There were no injuries to firefighters or civilians and the cause is under investigation, the department tweeted.
Public records show the home on Angmar Court was owned by Samuel J. Cassidy, and that he worked at the VTA. Cassidy was a substation maintainer for VTA and made $110,383 in 2019, according to Transparent California. Those records indicate he worked at least a decade at the transit agency.
Following the shooting, officials said, several explosive devices were found inside a VTA building. Deputy Russell Davis, a spokesman for the Santa Clara Sheriff's Department, said a bomb squad was on scene, along with the FBI, and there was no danger to the community.
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