9 Dead in San Jose Rail Yard Mass Shooting

"Shooter is down," the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office tweeted Wednesday morning after reports of a mass shooting at a rail yard in San Jose, Calif. Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Deputy Russell Davis later confirmed that a gunman killed eight people at the Valley Transportation Authority facility, the AP reports. Authorities say the gunman, a VTA employee, took his own life, reports the San Jose Mercury News. Police say the dead and wounded include other VTA employees.

The rail facility is next door to the county sheriff's department and across a freeway from the airport. The Mercury News reports that around 100 VTA workers were escorted from the sheriff's office to an auditorium across the street. "The whole crew is gone, the whole shift is gone," one worker told reporters. "It’s horrible." Davis said a fire at a home 13 miles away from the rail yard was connected to the mass shooting and the bomb squad is now at the scene, reports CBS San Francisco. "We have received information that there are explosive devices that are located inside the building," he said. (More San Jose stories.)