Thursday, May 27 top stories
It is Thursday, May 27. Here are today’s top stories.
The death toll in the mass shooting at a VTA light rail yard yesterday morning in San Jose increased from eight to nine. A man who was hospitalized passed away.
AP News identified the gunman as 57-year-old Samuel Cassidy, who was an employee with VTA since 2012. A neighbor video shows him getting into his white pickup truck at his home before he drove to the rail yard. He was wearing work clothes and carrying a duffel bag.
A sheriff said the gunman brought two handguns and 11 loaded magazines to two buildings at the rail yard where there were over 100 employees. He fired 39 shots and appeared to target certain victims while telling others that he wouldn’t shoot them. When deputies started getting close to him, he shot and killed himself.
Cassidy’s ex-wife said he had a bad temper, would get angry about things that happened at work, and would even talk about killing people at work, but that she never thought it would happen.
The victims’ ages ranged from 29 to 63. Five out of the nine victims were people of color. There will be a vigil to honor the victims at the San Jose City Hall tonight.
Eric Carle, who wrote and illustrated a popular children’s book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar'' passed away on Sunday in Massachusetts from kidney failure. He was 91.
The New York Times said the book is one of the best-selling children’s books of all time with over 55 million copies sold around the world. It was translated into over 70 languages.
Carle wrote over 70 books in his career.
U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken said in an interview with Axios that on his visit to Jerusalem, he warned Israeli leaders that there could be renewed conflict and war if there are evictions of Palestinian families from East Jerusalem or further unrest on the Temple Mount.
Blinken said he warned Palestinian leaders about inciting violence or letting violence go on without consequences. He said there needs to be more hope and opportunities for people in Gaza, who are sealed off.
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CNN reported that Italian authorities have arrested three people on manslaughter charges in connection to the cable car disaster on Sunday in which 14 people died when a cable car broke off, crashed, and rolled down a steep mountain.
A carabiniere (police) spokesperson said the suspects admitted during overnight interrogation that they knew there were serious issues with the emergency brakes for the cable cars, and when a maintenance crew was unable to fix it, decided to simply turn off the emergency brake system instead of shutting down the cable car. Then the disaster happened.
The first round of the NBA playoffs is going on right now and stadiums are starting to fill up with fans, but there were two ugly incidents between NBA stars and spectators last night.
During a game between the New York Knicks and the Atlanta Hawks, a spectator spit on Hawks player Trae Young. The Knicks organization said they have identified the person and banned them indefinitely from The Garden.
In Philadelphia, a fan dumped popcorn on Washington Wizards player Russell Westbrook as he was going into a tunnel after getting injured. The Philadelphia 76ers organization said the fan was banned indefinitely from the Wells Fargo Center.
The NBA issued a statement saying they would enforce an enhanced fan code of conduct, especially as more NBA fans return to their arenas.
That is all the top stories for today. Check out our other videos. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
San Jose: https://apnews.com/article/california-business-shootings-2ac840b7cc77cc9e408a5d6daa7e7e30
Caterpillar author: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/26/books/eric-carle-dead.html
Cable car: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/26/europe/italy-cable-car-accident-intl/index.html