Nine people were killed in the mass shooting at the VTA rail yard in San Jose Wednesday, all of them employees of the transit agency.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — Nine people were killed in the mass shooting at the VTA rail yard in San Jose on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, all of them employees of the transit agency. We’re learning more about the victims from the loved ones and coworkers they left behind. The ninth shooting victim died in the hospital around 11:30 p.m. the night of the shooting.”We are all grieving,” said VTA board chair Glenn Hendricks, before paying tribute to each of the victims at a press conference Thursday. Singh lived in Union City with his wife and two kids. He started at VTA in 2014 as a bus operator trainee and later became a light rail operator. He is being hailed as a hero for helping coworkers hide during the shooting “A woman told me that he pushed her and closed the door. He went to save other people. He was running in the building to tell the people, ‘Hey, be careful there’s a shooting,'” said Sukhwent Dhillon, Singh’s uncle.”Him letting us know and us making the call to go away from where he was based on the information he gave us, it definitely saved our lives and our coworkers’ lives,” said VTA employee Gurvinder Singh. GoFundMe page has been set up to support Singh’s wife and two young children. Lane had worked at VTA since 2001. He worked as an electro-mechanic and then became an overhead line worker. His wife, Vicki, told ABC7 News they were set to celebrate his birthday this weekend.”He was my soulmate. He was my total soulmate. Love of my life. He was a wonderful person. I’m going to miss him. I miss him now. So much. This just doesn’t seem real. It doesn’t seem real at all,” she said. The couple had been married for over two decades and had plans to retire next year. Lane leaves behind four children and many memories.”Just remember his sense of humor. His love for his friends and his family. Everybody respected him. He was extremely smart. He was an intelligent man. If he didn’t know how to do something he can figure it out,” she said. GoFundMe page has been set up to help with burial and funeral costs. San Jose councilmember Raul Peralez identified his longtime friend Michael Rudometkin as one of the victims of Wednesday’s shooting. He started at VTA in 2013 as a mechanic. He later became an electro-mechanic and eventually an overhead line worker.”Personally my heart is broken and honestly it’s going to take a lot of time not for me, but for all of us, to be able to heal,” Peralez said. GoFundMe page has been set up to support his family. Alaghmandan worked for VTA for 20 years as a substation maintainer.
