A gunman opened fire at a California light-rail maintenance facility Wednesday, killing nine people before killing himself.
Police have identified the shooter as 57-year-old Sam Cassidy, who worked at the Valley Transportation Authority facility in San Jose.
Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said Cassidy took his own life as police closed in on him.
Officials have neither identified a motive for the shooting nor released the type of gun used in the attack.
In a statement from the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden said he and Vice President Kamala Harris had been briefed on the shootings.
“I have the solemn duty of yet again ordering the flag to be lowered at half-staff, just weeks after doing so following the mass shootings at spas in and around Atlanta; in a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado; at a home in Rock Hill, South Carolina; and at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, Indiana. Enough," the president said.
“Once again, I urge Congress to take immediate action and heed the call of the American people, including the vast majority of gun owners, to help end this epidemic of gun violence in America."
“There’s a sameness to this, and that numbness, I think, is something we’re all feeling,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in San Jose, after mentioning other recent shootings in the state. "It begs the damn question: What the hell is going on in the United States of America?"
Deputy Russell Davis, Santa Clara Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, told reporters that police responded to multiple reports of a shooting near the facility at about 6:30 a.m. local time.
Bomb squads were dispatched to the scene after reports of an explosive device.
Police were also investigating a house fire that started just before the shooting, Davis said. Public records show Cassidy owned a two-story home where firefighters responded, The Associated Press reported.
San Jose is a city of about 1 million people about 80 kilometers south of the San Francisco Bay area. It is considered the heart of Silicon Valley, a global center of technological innovation where some of America's biggest tech companies are based.
