VTA Mass Shooting Body Camera Footage Released By Sheriff

SAN JOSE, CA — The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office released body camera footage from last week’s mass shooting at a Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority light rail yard.

The video — over four minutes long and released Tuesday evening — shows sheriff’s deputies arriving at one of the buildings where a VTA employee opened fire last Wednesday, killing nine coworkers before turning the gun on himself.

The video can be seen below.

Warning: This video shows footage from an active shooter situation and might be disturbing to watch. The following description also mentions suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, text the Crisis Text Line (741741) or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255).

The deputies climb the stairwell and get assistance from an employee who hands them his key card to enter the building. They scan an empty room before hearing several gunshots fired in another room. They open a door to find what appears to be the suspect, Samuel Cassidy, slumped over next to a stairwell after shooting himself.

Also on Tuesday evening, the Santa Clara County Office of the Medical Examiner-Coroner ruled the 57-year-old Cassidy’s death a suicide. Cassidy shot himself multiple times in the head, an autopsy concluded.

"Although rare, this can occur in suicides in which the first shot to the head was not immediately fatal," the coroner's office said in a statement.

The shooting occurred just after 6:30 a.m. last Wednesday.

Law enforcement officials credited the sheriff's deputies and San Jose police officers for rushing into the building while gunfire was ongoing and escorting as many of the 40 employees inside as they could to safety.

"We had some heroics that I think resulted in a diminished loss of life," Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said.

Victims were shot in two separate buildings in the facility, Smith said. The incident took place during a shift change, so deputies from the midnight shift and the day shift were on the duty at the same time, according to sheriff's office spokesman Deputy Russell Davis. The sheriff's office's headquarters is right across the street from the rail yard.

"They did not wait," Davis said. "They immediately went into the scene and rendered first aid and rescued victims out of the building as fast as they can."