Police officers near the scene of the shooting in San José, California. – Noah Berger / AP / SIPA
A shooting has broken out in downtown San José, California, United States. City police say they exchanged fire at the site of a public transport company on Wednesday morning around 6:45 a.m. local time. The shooting left “several dead” and injured in the center where trains are stored and which provides maintenance, reports local police.
San José Mayor Sam Liccardo said in a tweet that “several people” were being treated, without specifying the severity of the injuries. Employees of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), which manages transport in part of the region, are “among the victims”, according to the police, who did not specify their number.
The alleged perpetrator is dead
The suspected shooter was killed, and the “exact number of dead and injured” is not yet confirmed, said Russell Davis of Santa Clara County Police, adding that the information was still “preliminary.” The site has been evacuated and the “seriousness of the injuries” is being assessed, the VTA company said on Twitter.
“We are sorry for the families of those we lost in this terrible shooting,” said Sam Liccardo. In the VTA family, we mourn the loss of our colleagues and pray for the recovery of those who are being treated, ”he added.
Series of shootings in the United States
A series of shootings has brought mourning to the United States in recent months, including at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, in an office building in California, in a supermarket in Boulder (Colorado) and in several massage parlors in Atlanta. Last weekend, 12 people were shot dead and around 50 injured across the country, in an upsurge in gun violence recently described as an “epidemic” by President Joe Biden.
The Democrat unveiled in early April measures to limit the proliferation of firearms in the country. Gun violence is “an international disgrace,” he lambasted. Since the start of 2021, 17,635 people have been shot dead in the United States, and 231 shootings with multiple victims have been recorded, according to the Gun Violence Archive website.