Filipino dad of 3 among dead in San Jose, California mass shooting
Paul Megia (center), among nine victims of the mass shooting, is seen here with children, from left to right: Avery, Paul Megia, Gavin, and Nate. SCREENSHOT
SAN JOSE, California — A Filipino is among the nine victims killed in a mass shooting in a San Jose rail transport yard Wednesday morning. The shooter also killed himself, hiking the fatalities to ten.
Filipino American Paul Delacruz Megia, 42, is among the fatalities. He is survived by his three children, Avery, Gavin and Nate; his parents, Leonard and Edna (he was their only son) and two sisters, Luci and Julie.
Family and friends describe him as “a ray of sunshine.”
The massacre is the 231st mass shooting in the United States in 146 days, a trend described as epidemic by gun control proponents.
Like the other victims, Megia was an employee of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in whose light rail yard the mass shooting took place at around 6:30 a.m.
The facility, across the freeway from the airport, is a transit control center that stores trains and has a maintenance yard.
The VTA provides bus, light rail and other transit services throughout Santa Clara County, the largest in the Bay Area and home to Silicon Valley.
Victims ranged in age from 29 to 63. The city did not officially announce if all were VTA employees:
- Paul Delacruz Megia, 42
- Taptejdeep Singh, 36
- Adrian Balleza, 29
- Jose Dejesus Hernandez III, 35
- Timothy Michael Romo, 49
- Michael Joseph Rudometkin, 40
- Abdolvahab Alaghmandan, 63
- Lars Kepler Lane, 63
- Alex Ward Fitch, 49
The family of one victim, Taptejdeep Singh, told their loved one saved at least one person before he died.
Sam Cassidy, 57, a smog check repair technician, was the shooter. Around the time of the shooting, the San Jose Fire Department responded to a large structure fire at an address listed to Cassidy. Mayor Sam Liccardo told ABC-7 it appeared that the gunman set the fire on his way to the work site.
Authorities have yet to confirm if his guns were licensed. Cassidy’s ex-wife said he had anger issues and often complained about his workmates at VTA.
Want stories like this delivered straight to your inbox? Stay informed. Stay ahead. Subscribe to InqMORNING
