Last content update and data verfication was on Thursday, April 3, 2025, at 07:22:25 (America/New York — EST — UTC -5) by MEB MediaX Webmaster or authorized designee.
Details
- Mass Shooting
- Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)
- Municipality
- San Jose
- State
- California – CA
- Zip Code
- 95110
- Region
- West
- Division
- Pacific
- Incident Date
- May 24, 2021
- Venue Type
- Workplace
- Killed
- 9
- Injured
- 0
Ranking Data
- Preventable Factors/Rankings
- Blatant Rankings - Points Doubled
- 0
- Preventable Rankings Score
- 4
- Preventable Status
- Somewhat Unpreventable
Preventable Factors
- Preventable Factor Details
Last content update and data verfication was on Thursday, April 3, 2025, at 07:22:25 (America/New York — EST — UTC -5) by MEB MediaX Webmaster or authorized designee.
Takeaway(s):
—Disgruntled employees are very common and generally very easy to identify. Unlike the perpetrator in this case they most often don’t pose a threat. Unfortunately, no meaningful interventions had apparently been undertaken by the employer.
—When the system knows crucial information but fails to share it with those who need to know the outcome will sometimes be unnecessarily tragic, which is what happened in this case.
Incident Preventable Factor(s):
—Behavioral Red Flags Ignored/Response Delayed – Perpetrator(s) Behavior Personally Erratic/Deviated from Individual/Societal Norms:
“… the VTA [Valley Transportation Authority] was well aware of [the perpetrator’s] growing problems on the job. According to a trove of internal emails VTA released earlier this month in response to a public records request by the Bay Area News Group, Cassidy had five contentious run-ins with management over seemingly minor workplace issues in the two years before the shooting.” 1
“We can say that the suspect has been a highly disgruntled VTA [Valley Transportation Authority] employee for many years, which may have contributed to why he targeted VTA employees,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement. 2
“Matt Doherty, the former special agent in charge in the Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center and now a senior vice president with the security firm Hillard Heintze, said [the perpetrator] exhibited many of the warning signs of people who carry out violence in the workplace. ‘He was obviously escalating,’ Doherty said.” 1
—Criminal Justice System Failures – Law Enforcement Failure – Delayed/Ignored/or No Follow-up to Telltale Perpetrator(s) Event(s) Preceding Incident:
The perpetrator “… was once stopped by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) while returning from the Philippines in 2016, sources told ABC News. He was apparently stopped and searched because he had books about terrorism and manifestos, according to three sources familiar with the investigation. The CBP also found a notebook that detailed his hatred of the VTA [Valley Transportation Authority].” 2
“‘Had this information been shared with local law enforcement, there would have been an intervention with [the perpetrator], Rosen [Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen] said in an interview with this news organization [The Mercury News]. ‘After speaking with [the perpetrator], there may at that point have been enough evidence for a gun-violence restraining order, there may have been information for them to refer [the perpetrator] to mental-health services or some other therapeutic alternative.'” 3
Communications is the cornerstone of most everything, but when it comes to life and death situations, it’s essential. While you and I not communicating effectively might get a pass, there’s absolutely no excuse when government agencies, their very counterparts, fail to connect. 3
Source(s):
1. Savidge, Nico. July 5, 2021. “‘He Was Obviously Escalating’: Could More Have Been Done To Prevent Mass Shooting at San Jose Rail Yard?”. Mercury News (The Columbian). Retereived July 12, 2021, from https://www.columbian.com/news/2021/jul/05/he-was-obviously-escalating-could-more-have-been-done-to-prevent-mass-shooting-at-san-jose-rail-yard/.
2. Staff. June 10, 2021. “Shooter at San Jose VTA Had History of Insubordination, Conflict, According to Documents”. ABC10. Retereived July 13, 2021, from https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/california/san-jose-vta-shooter-history-insubordination-conflict-documents/103-52da9739-486c-4bfa-b06c-c3e17104528d.
3. Salonga, Robert and Castaneda, Leonardo. June 4, 2021. “Santa Clara County DA: VTA Shooter Could Have Been Stopped if Feds Told Local Authorities About Prior Detention”. The Mercury News. Retereived July 13, 2021, from https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/06/04/santa-clara-county-da-vta-shooter-could-have-been-stopped-if-feds-told-local-authorities-about-prior-detention/.
Fluidity
- Criminal Case Pending?
- Civil Litigation Pending?
- Trending
- ⯅
Administrative Information
- Credible Source Inquires?
- 3
- Are Credible Source Inquires Inline Endnotes?
- Yes
- Assessment Status?
- Pending
- Editorial Board Approval?
- Pending
Record Information
- Last Updated
- Lexar
- Record ID
- 24
- Private ID
- E8SFW65
- Date Recorded
- 2021-07-12 16:08:21
- Date Updated
- 2023-10-22 01:41:24
- Last Accessed
- Type Designation