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San Jose gunman was facing disciplinary hearing over alleged racist remarks on day of massacre

Story at a glance:

  • On Wednesday, Samuel Cassidy was due to attend a disciplinary hearing on his alleged racist remarks.
  • In 2016, he was questioned about books on terrorism and hatred for his workplace.
  • He killed nine of his colleagues, most of whom are people of color.

The mass shooter of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) in San Jose, Calif., was said to be not only a “disgruntled employee” but was also facing a disciplinary hearing Wednesday due to alleged racist remarks.

Since 2016, when Customs and Border Protection agents questioned him, authorities knew Samuel Cassidy, 57, and described him as “highly disgruntled.” But he still managed to obtain firearms and explosives and bragged about them to some of his co-workers.


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In 2016, authorities found a black notebook detailing Cassidy’s hatred for his job as a maintenance worker and his colleagues, as well as books on terrorism, Raw Story reported. More recently, some of his co-workers have reported that Cassidy made inappropriate racial remarks.

He was supposed to attend a hearing Wednesday, but he came to work with a duffel bag loaded with two semi-automatic handguns and 11 magazines, according to CBS News.

He killed nine of his colleagues, most of whom are people of color. Before he killed himself, surveillance footage shows that he was searching for others around the station’s campus, a local NBC affiliate reported.

His ex-wife, Cecilia Yolanda Nelms, who is a person of color, told NBC that she recalls times he talked about killing his co-workers during their marriage, which ended in 2004. But she says she didn’t take it seriously.

Nelms said she was stunned to see her former husband on a killing spree.


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