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The San Jose Gunman Once Wrote a Hate-Filled Manifesto About Work

He also appeared to target specific employees in his rampage at the rail yard, according to the local sheriff.
Family members of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light rail yard shooting victim Paul Megia react during a vigil at San Jose City Hall on May 27, 2021 in San Jose, California.
Family members of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light rail yard shooting victim Paul Megia react during a vigil at San Jose City Hall on May 27, 2021 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

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Five years before the suspected San Jose gunman opened fire at a rail yard facility and killed 10 people, including himself, U.S. Customs stopped him and found him carrying a manifesto that documented his hatred for his workplace. 

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The suspect, 57-year-old Samuel Cassidy, was coming back from a trip to the Philippines in 2016, when U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained him for questioning, according to the Wall Street Journal. The officers found “books about terrorism and fear and manifestos…as well as a black memo book filled with lots of notes about how he hates the VTA,” according to the Department of Homeland Security memo the WSJ obtained. 

In a statement, the Santa Clara Sheriff’s Department said the alleged gunman was targeting specific employees and that he was resentful. 

“Based on recent developments in the investigation, we can say that the suspect has been a highly disgruntled VTA employee for many years, which may have contributed to why he targeted VTA employees,” the statement said. 

In an interview with local station ABC 7, a co-worker, Kirk Bertolet, confirmed that. 

“I do know that he had a specific agenda and was targeting certain people,” Bertolet said. “He walked by other people, he let other people live as he gunned down other people.”

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The suspected gunman had been working at the transportation hub for nine years before the shooting. During the 2016 Customs detainment, when asked if he had problems with co-workers, the gunman said no.

He was scheduled to have a disciplinary meeting the day of the massacre, an unnamed source told KPIX. During the hearing, members of the VTA were scheduled to address the gunman on his past behavior with work-related issues.

The nine victims of the shooting were all co-workers of the suspect at the VTA hub, according to CNN. They were identified by the county’s medical examiner as: Adrian Balleza, 29; Jose Dejesus Hernandez III, 35; Taptejdeep Singh, 36; Michael Joseph Rudometkin, 40; Paul Delacruz Megia, 42; Timothy Michael Romo, 49;  Alex Ward Fritch, 49; Abdolvahab Alaghmandan, 63; and Lars Kepler Lane, 63.

Near the area when the alleged gunman died by suicide, police originally found two semi-automatic pistols and 11 magazines, which appeared to be legal, according to local enforcement. A third handgun was later found at the scene, according to CNN. He may have also had more ammunition at home. 

At the rail yard after the tragedy, bomb squads also found “several possible suspicious devices” on the property, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office

California Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared at a press conference Wednesday to condemn the shooting and the epidemic of gun violence in the United States.

“There’s a numbness I imagine some of us are feeling about this, because there's a sameness to this,” Gov. Newsom said. “Anywhere, USA, it feels like this happens over and over and over again. Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat."

But when the governor was asked about gun laws in California, he walked away from the podium without comment.