They were described by their colleagues with one word, repeated over and over: family.
The nine men killed in a mass shooting Wednesday at a San Jose, California, light rail yard were all longtime employees at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, ranging in age from 29 to 63.
While the investigation into the shooting is ongoing, a close-knit workplace is devastated by incomprehensible loss, VTA officials said.
At a news conference Thursday, Glenn Hendricks, chairman of the VTA board of directors and vice mayor of the city of Sunnyvale, solemnly listed each of the dead.
They were:
— Abdolvahab Alaghmandan, 63, who worked for the VTA for about 20 years as a substation maintainer.
— Adrian Balleza, 29, who started at the VTA as a bus operator trainee in 2014 and later became a maintenance worker and light rail operator.
— Jose Dejesus Hernandez III, 35, who started at the VTA in 2012 as a transit mechanic, later becoming an electromechanic and a substation maintainer.
— Lars Kepler Lane, 63, who started with the VTA in 2001 as an electromechanic and became an overhead line worker.
— Michael Joseph Rudometkin, 40, who started in 2013 as a VTA mechanic and went on to be an electromechanic and overhead lineworker.
— Paul Delacruz Megia, 42, who started in 2002 as a bus operator trainee and worked his way up from light rail operator to transportation supervisor to transit division supervisor to assistant superintendent in service management.
— Taptejdeep Singh, 36, who started in 2014 as a bus operator trainee and became a light rail operator.
— Timothy Michael Romo, 49, who was an overhead lineworker for more than 20 years.
— Alex Ward Fritch, 49, who was a substation manager.
Hendricks’ voice shook as he described meeting with the victims’ family members, and he pleaded with employees to get help and talk to others if they felt overwhelmed.
“All of the families are in pain, but we are here to help,” he said. “We want all of our employees to know, we are all grieving together, and we want to do everything we possibly can to support each other.”
He said he went home Wednesday night and wrote a haiku to honor the dead:
Our friends will be missed
Serving riders makes us smile
Nine will inspire us
Evelynn Tran, acting general manager and chief executive at the transit authority, also fought tears as she spoke of losing people who were part of the “VTA family.”
“Some of us get training on what to do when there is an active shooter event, but not about the aftermath,” she said. “Yesterday, I was at the family assistance center, and I saw that aftermath, and I saw the immense pain in the faces of the families, and I heard their cries when they got the news.
“And it was utterly heart-wrenching. And I felt immensely helpless.”
Naunihal Singh, superintendent of the light rail yard, said he was struggling to put on a “poker face” to help his colleagues.
“I’m going through a lot of, I would say, confused emotions,” he said. “I don’t know. I’m angry. I’m sad. I’m at a loss for words, at the same time trying to find the reasons why.”
Singh shared an office space with Paul Megia and described him as a man who always did what he was asked with a smile and who was “always willing to help his employees,” who seemed to be reaching out to him all the time.
Singh also supervised Taptejdeep Singh — who, he said, “always had questions ... (about) how he can help others” — and Adrian Balleza.
“Adrian? What can I say about that gentleman? A gem of a person,” he said. “Very kindhearted.” He was always trying to make the job fun for his co-workers, he said.
“What I’m hearing from my peers, whatever happened yesterday, it shows the character of these guys, how they tried to save others while going through that chaotic situation.”
Law enforcement sources identified the alleged shooter as Samuel Cassidy, a 57-year-old maintenance worker who had been employed at the VTA for at least eight years.
Authorities are still searching for a motive in the shooting, although early indications point to a work-related issue that did not involve riders on the Silicon Valley’s light rail system. Investigators said Cassidy, whose body was found at the scene, only targeted co-workers during the attack and did not fire at police.
On Thursday, loved ones began sharing information about the victims — who were fathers, brothers, son, friends.
San Jose City Councilman Raul Peralez said he and his father had just been planning a golf outing with Michael Rudometkin, whom he called Mikey.
“My family and I have lost a longtime great friend, and there are no words to describe the heartache we are feeling right now, especially for his family,” he wrote on Facebook.
Taptejdeep Singh was described in a statement by his brother, Karman Singh, as a “beloved father, husband, brother, son, and nephew.”
Karman wrote that eyewitnesses have told the family that Taptejdeep spent his final moments trying to help others get to safety.
“From what we have heard, he reacted quickly to get colleagues into secure offices, and was frantically calling others who would have been coming in for a shift change to warn them about the shooter,” Karman wrote. “We understand that he was attempting to secure his building when he was killed.
“Even in these moments of chaos, Taptejdeep was living by the values of Sikhi: living in service and protection of others.”
Taptejdeep was born in India and came to California with his parents about 17 years ago. He leaves behind a wife, a 3-year-old son, and a 1-year-old daughter.
Sukhvir Singh, a VTA colleague who is no relation, said in a statement that he got a call from Taptejdeep on Wednesday morning, warning him that there was an active shooter in Building B and to hide or get out immediately.
He told Sukhvir that he was, at that time, with Paul Megia, who also was killed.
“Because of him, so many people were able to go home to their families,” Sukhvir wrote.
Alex Fritch, who died Wednesday night at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, was married for 20 years and was supposed to renew his vows in Hawaii this September, his wife, Tara Fritch, told KTVU-TV. They had an adult daughter and two teenage sons.
Tara Fritch told the news station that he had worked for VTA for nine years and was the family’s sole financial provider.
“Alex was everything to this family,” she said. “He was our rock. My safe place to fall. He was the love of my life.”
Adrian Balleza left behind a 2-year-old son and could not wait until he was old enough to take fishing, his wife, Heather, told The New York Times.
A woman who answered her phone on Thursday said she did not want to speak. She wept.
(Staff writers Maura Dolan and Richard Winton contributed to this report.)
