EXCLUSIVE: Suspected VTA shooter's ex-girlfriend says he was 'mentally not stable'
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- A mass shooting, tied for the deadliest in Bay Area history, happened Wednesday at a VTA station in San Jose.
The suspected shooter, Sam Cassidy, killed himself after killing nine others, who he worked with at the station.
ABC7 News spoke to an ex-girlfriend of Cassidy who met him on the dating site Match.com in 2008. The woman did not want to be identified.
RELATED: New info released about suspected VTA rail yard shooter Sam Cassidy
Dan Noyes: "He seemed like a nice guy at first?"
Woman: "Oh yeah, he seemed like a tall, handsome, you know, nice looking, gentle at the beginning."
She says he asked her to marry him after only two months. When she refused, she says Cassidy's personality changed.
Woman: "Yelling, screaming, insulting me, he did a lot of that, I got hurt a lot. I got hurt."
Dan Noyes: "Physically?"
Woman: "Yeah."
In a filing from a domestic violence case in Santa Clara County Family Law Court, the woman claimed Cassidy "exhibited major mood swings as a result of bipolar disorder," adding, "several times during the relationship he became intoxicated, enraged and forced himself on me sexually."
The woman told the I-Team, "He was drinking a lot, he was drunk. At my apartment, he pushed me to bed, forced me to have sex."
RELATED: Surveillance video shows VTA gunman walking between buildings during mass shooting
It was actually Cassidy who filed for a temporary restraining order against the woman, claiming he broke up with her, she kept coming to his house to the point he had to call the police, and that she may have keyed his car. The woman denied the accusations.
Robert Cummings was her attorney on the case.
"There was a lot if gaslighting that went on, there was a lot of controlling and sexual abuse that you see in these situations," said Cummings.
Cummings said Cassidy acted as his own attorney.
RELATED: Victims remembered after attack at VTA light rail yard
Dan Noyes: "How did the case conclude?"
Robert Cummings: "It concluded, we settled, both sides walked away and moved on with their respective lives."
In light of the mass murder at VTA yesterday, Cassidy's former partner tells us she feels fortunate to have left him.
"I feel lucky. I'm still alive, I didn't die, you know."
She is shocked and saddened by the loss of life, at the hands of the man she dated 12 years ago.
SJ SHOOTING: Officials share emotional reactions to rail yard tragedy
Take a look at the latest stories and videos about the mass shooting at the VTA rail yard in San Jose.
