A 36-year-old Indian-origin Sikh man was among eight people killed in the rail yard shooting in San Jose in the US state of California, reports said on Thursday. Taptejdeep Singh has left behind his wife, three-year-old son, one-year-old daughter, and a grieving Sikh community in the Sanfrancisco Bay Area, which described him as a “helpful and caring” man, The Mercury News reported.

Co-workers at the Valley Transportation Authority hailed Singh as a hero, saying he left the safety of an office room, where some colleagues were hiding, to help others escape the line of fire. Samuel Cassidy, 57, a maintenance worker of the VTA, San Jose, on Wednesday gunned down eight of his co-workers and critically injured another in a one of the deadliest shootings in California this year. He the killed himself.