Editing Samuel Cassidy (section)

== Origin ==
Not much is known about his past, all that is known is that he had been employed at the VTA since 2012; for his first two years, he was a mechanic, and he later began maintaining substations. Cassidy was under investigation for allegedly making racist remarks to coworkers and had been scheduled to attend a disciplinary hearing on the day of the shooting. Cassidy's ex-wife, who had been married to him for ten years before their divorce in 2005, described him as having anger issues and often being angry at his coworkers and at the VTA for what he believed to be its unfair work assignments. She also said that he had talked about killing people at his workplace more than a decade ago, but she never believed him.

An August 2016 memo by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) described how, after taking a trip to the Philippines, Cassidy was detained by officers with United States Customs and Border Protection for a secondary inspection. They subsequently found books about terrorism in his possession, along with a memo book filled with notes about his hatred of the VTA. He was asked whether he had problems with anyone at his workplace, and he said he did not. It was unclear why Cassidy was detained by the officers in the first place, though a DHS official later said that the detainment was partially because of red flags regarding sex tourism. No follow-up action was apparently taken after the inspection.

Cassidy owned numerous registered firearms, including shotguns and long rifles, but he only used three semiautomatic handguns in the shooting. It was unclear if he also legally owned the high-capacity magazines used in the shooting; they are prohibited in California unless they were obtained before January 1, 2000, and the buyer was not otherwise prohibited from possessing firearms. Cassidy had a "minor criminal history" and was charged in 1983 with misdemeanor obstruction or resisting a peace officer.

=== The Shooting ===
''More Coming Soon!''