San Jose gunman had 2 semi-automatic handguns

FAN Editor

The gunman who opened fire at a San Jose light rail facility, killing nine people, had two semi-automatic handguns and 11 magazines, a Santa Clara County Sheriff’s spokesman confirmed to CBS News. The weapons were found near his body, CBS San Francisco reported.

The gunman fired 39 shots and appeared to target some of the victims, employees of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, which operates the rail yard, Sheriff Laurie Smith told The Associated Press on Thursday. The gunman, 57-year-old VTA employee Sam Cassidy, took his own life.

The shooter arrived at the light rail facility around 6 a.m. Wednesday carrying the weapons and the high-capacity magazines in a duffel bag, Smith told the AP. She said there are no cameras inside the rail yard’s two buildings, but said surveillance footage captured him moving from one location to the next. Five victims were discovered in one building and two in another, Smith said.

“It appears to us at this point that he said to one of the people there: ‘I’m not going to shoot you,'” Smith told the AP. “And then he shot other people. So I imagine there was some kind of thought on who he wanted to shoot.”

The sheriff said he also appeared to have set a timer or slow-burn device to set his home on fire, a blaze that was reported minutes after the first 911 calls came in from the rail facility. A motive remains unclear. Investigators are interviewing witnesses and family members, searching social media and combing through evidence at the two scenes.

The ex-wife of the gunman said he struggled with a temper. “That was one of our biggest problems. He was very quiet, keep things to himself,” Cecilia Nelms told CBS News.

Authorities initially reported eight people were slain and several others wounded, but later said a ninth victim had succumbed to his injuries at a hospital. A vigil to honor the victims was scheduled to take place at San Jose City Hall on Thursday afternoon. Mayor Sam Liccardo and city council members are expected to attend.

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