Members of the Valley Transportation Authority family gathered Thursday morning to remember their nine colleagues who were killed in Wednesday's mass shooting at a rail yard.
The gathering at VTA headquarters was billed as a news conference, but it felt and sounded more like a memorial.
"Today is about our employees and their families," VTA Board Chair Glenn Hendricks said. "It is about people."
The pictures and names of the nine victims were displayed on a board. VTA General Manager Evelyn Tran said she was with the victims' families at the reunification center, waiting and hoping for their loved ones to return.
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"That did not happen for Abdoluahab, Adrian, Alex, Jose, Lars, Michael, Paul, Taptejdeep and Timothy," Tran said.
Yard Supervisor Naumihal Singh, the victims’ direct supervisor, said he kept his composure about his work family until he got home when his own family rushed to him.
"Then they hugged me," Singh said. "They were happy that I was able to make [it] home, but I was sad inside that some of my family members could not feel the warmth that I was able to feel yesterday."
San Jose Councilman Raúl Peralez lost a friend since childhood, Michael Rudometkin.
"I unfortunately get to know personally how these nine families have felt," Peralez said.
