The family of Taptej Singh, a 36-year-old VTA light rail operator, waited all day for the news they wished they’d never get.
Singh, married with a 3-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter, was gunned down early Wednesday morning in a stairwell of a VTA building, they said, when he and eight other people were killed during one of the Bay Area’s worst mass shootings ever. He worked in a separate building from where other victims were killed, the family said. His supervisor, Paul Megia, also perished.
Coworkers told them that Singh had left the safety of an office where others were hunkered down to help others escape.
“We are in very deep grief,” said his uncle, Sakhwant Dhillon. “He told people, ‘be careful, hide.’ He was running around the building to save others’ lives.”
“He was a good person. He helped everybody,” Dhillon said.
Singh is one of nine victims who died at the hands of Samuel Cassidy, a 57-year-old maintenance worker who opened fire just after 6:30 a.m., police say. Santa Clara County Coroner’s officials released the names of all nine victims Wednesday evening.
Members of Singh’s extended family, including his father, hugged and cried at the Red Cross Center in North San Jose when they were told the news Wednesday evening. Relatives and friends of many of the dead gathered at the center through the afternoon and were escorted out by authorities in small groups through the evening after the terrible news was confirmed that they had lost a loved one.
San Jose City Councilman Raul Peralez, whose childhood friend Michael Rudometkin also died, left the building with his wife and others without speaking to reporters.
Police released few details Wednesday about how the shooting happened and why.
But Singh’s brother, Bagga Singh, said he was told that his brother “put a lady in a control room to hide. He saved her and rushed down the stairway.”
Although Singh may be considered a hero, his brother said, “he should have saved his life, too. We lost a good person.”
The Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office identified him as Taptejdeep Singh, but family told the Bay Area News Group that he went by Taptej. Singh was born in India and was raising his family in Union City. He had worked for the VTA for about 9 years.
Singh’s brother-in-law, P.J. Bath, also works as a light rail operator. Singh was working the early shift, he said.
“He was always helpful to everyone and caring,” Bath said.
He also added that the supervisor, Megia, was also “telling the other employees to take cover. “
Bath was told that the shooter started in a different building before encountering Singh in a stairwell. “He just happened to be in the way, I guess,” Bath said.
