An employee at a California light rail facility opened fire at his workplace Wednesday morning — leaving at least eight people dead and “multiple people” injured, officials said. 

Samuel Cassidy, 57, attacked San Jose’s VTA Light Rail Facility on West Younger Avenue near the airport around 6:30 a.m. local time before turning the gun on himself when he encountered sheriff deputies, according to the Santa Clara Sheriff’s Office.

“I was running so fast. I just ran for my life,” Rochelle Hawkins, a VTA mechanic who was at the facility during the shooting, told The Mercury News. 

“I would hope everyone would just pray for the VTA family. Just pray for us.”

The sheriff’s office received multiple 911 calls early Wednesday morning saying “multiple shots” were fired and when they arrived, the bullets were still flying, Sheriff Laurie Smith told reporters. 

“We have some very brave officers and deputies,” Smith said during a press conference as she held back tears.

“This could’ve been a lot worse than what it was,” added Deputy Russell Davis, the public information officer for the Santa Clara Sheriff’s Office. 

Davis confirmed that a total of nine people are dead, including eight victims who worked for VTA and the gunman, but it remains unclear how many people are injured.

“The whole crew is gone, the whole shift is gone,” a VTA worker, who didn’t want to be identified, told the Mercury News. 

“It’s horrible.”

The department’s bomb squad later responded to the scene and K9s found a number of “explosive devices” located inside the building, Davis said.

Just moments before the shooting, Cassidy, who worked as a “substation maintainer” for VTA, had set his own home on fire, the Los Angeles Times and NBC News reported.

Multiple weapons and ammunition were found inside Cassidy’s home and the attack appears to be related to a workplace issue and did not involve riders of the transport system, the LA Times said. 

Davis said the train yard is not a station for commuters but a maintenance yard and a “control center” for VTA and a hub that stores multiple trains. 

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo spoke during a news briefing and appeared to be close to tears as he addressed reporters. 

“This is a very dark moment for our city,” Liccardo said. 

“These are and were essential workers, these VTA employees helped us get through this horrific pandemic. They were showing up everyday to operate light rail and busses to ensure people could still continue to go about their lives amid all of the challenges of the pandemic and they were taking risks with their own lives in doing so.” 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said earlier in the day he was in “close contact” with local law enforcement and spoke at an afternoon press conference to decry the violence. 

“I feel like this happens over and over and over again,” Newsom told reporters. 

“It begs the question: What the hell is going on in the United States of America?”