SAN JOSE, Calif. — Multiple people are dead and others injured in a mass shooting early Wednesday morning at a Valley Transportation Authority light rail yard and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, according to authorities.
The shooter is also dead, authorities said.
Santa Clara Sheriff’s Office spokesman Russell Davis confirmed the shooter's death but was unable to confirm the exact number of dead and injured. He said more information would be released later Wednesday.
“There’s a lot of speculation on fatalities,” Davis said during a news conference at the scene. “I don’t have a number for you. Everything is preliminary. It just happened.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a Tweet that his office was “in close contact with local law enforcement and monitoring this situation closely.”
The reported shooting occurred in the area of the 100 block of W. Younger Avenue and San Pedro Street, according to Twitter messages from San Jose police and the Santa Clara sheriff’s office. The first reports of the shooting came around 6:34 a.m.
According to Davis, some of the shooting victims are VTA employees. KTVU reported that it spoke to the mother of an employee who reported that the shooting happened at a union meeting. It was not known immediately if the shooting happened inside or outside, Davis said.
The mass shooting occurred in the VTA maintenance yard, where vehicles are dispatched — not in the organization’s operations center, according to the board chair. The VTA will suspend its transportation services at noon Wednesday.
The VTA provides bus, light rail, and paratransit services and is a funding partner in regional rail service including Caltrain, Capital Corridor, and the Altamont Corridor Express.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said on Twitter just after 8 a.m. that several people were being treated. Liccardo also said the “shooter is no longer a threat” and that the facility was evacuated.
Valley Medical Center spokesman Maury Kendall said some of the shooting victims were brought to the hospital for treatment.
Michael Hawkins, 19, stood behind the yellow police tape, hoping to see his mom, Rochelle Hawkins. She had called her son earlier Wednesday from a coworker’s phone to say she was alright. “She got down with the rest of her coworkers,” when the shooting began and dropped her phone, he said. She didn’t see the shooter, he said, and was uncertain how close she may have been to the tragedy.
The shooting happened during the busiest time of day at the maintenance facility, when operators and maintenance workers are getting ready for the start of the day’s service, according to Raj Singh, the recording and financial secretary for Amalgamated Transit Union local 265, which represents VTA operators.
Authorities were asking people to stay away from the area of E. Taylor Street, W. Hedding Street and E. Mission Street. They were holding a staging area for families who may have relatives at 70 Hedding Street in the area at the sheriff’s office headquarters, which are next door to the VTA light rail yard.
No other information was immediately available .
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(Mercury News staff writers Nico Savidge and Aldo Toledo contributed to this report.)
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