A Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) employee was arrested near his home in San Jose Sunday afternoon in the alleged killing of a VTA bus driver he knew, a spokesperson for the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday night.
The suspect was identified as Duc Minh Bui, 33, said sheriff’s spokesperson Brooks Jarosz. Neither the victim’s name nor the nature of Bui’s relationship with the victim were released, although Jarosz said the pair knew each other.
The shooting happened about 9:40 p.m. Friday in the parking lot of the VTA’s Chaboya Division Yard on South 7th Street in San Jose. A 911 call alerted the San Jose Fire Department to the shooting. Crews arrived at the scene and found that the victim had been shot at least once. He was declared dead at the scene, Jarosz said.
A law enforcement source told the Bay Area News Group that it was believed that the victim had been “targeted.” VTA General Manager and CEO Carolyn Gonot said Saturday that the shooting appeared to be an “isolated incident.”
The shooting comes more than three years after a disgruntled VTA mechanic shot and killed nine of his coworkers at VTA’s Guadalupe rail yard in San Jose before fatally shooting himself.
The May 2021 mass shooting, the most deadly in Bay Area history, prompted discussions around long-term improvements to workplace safety at the agency and increased security measures for employees at the site of the shooting.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed against VTA, the Sheriff’s Office, and Allied Universal, a private security company contracted to protect VTA facilities, from both families of those killed and a former bus driver alleging his post-traumatic stress disorder was worsened by the mass shooting.
Friday’s shooting left VTA employees shocked and confused, Amalgamated Transit Union President Raj Singh said. Some employees were getting off work at the time of the shooting, Singh said, while others learned of the shooting in text messages.
VTA is offering mental health services to employees who need them.
Additionally, Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, who also chairs the Valley Transportation Authority Board of Directors, said security has been increased at transit facilities following the shooting.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at 408-808-4500 or to contact the Sheriff’s Office Investigative Services anonymous tip line at 408-808-4431.
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