Death toll rises to 9 as police search for motive in US shooting

The mass shooting in San Jose, California is at least the ninth deadly mass shooting in the US in three months.

Police and federal investigators were determining on Thursday why a Northern California transit employee opened fire on his co-workers, as the death toll rose to nine people in the latest mass shooting to haunt the United States. The accused gunman shot himself as police closed in on him, minutes after gunfire erupted at about 6:30am local time (13:30 GMT) at a light rail yard in the heart of Silicon Valley on Wednesday, according to Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith. While police did not publicly name the gunman, the San Jose Mercury News and other news media identified him as Samuel Cassidy, 57, a maintenance worker at the yard.