SAN JOSE, Calif. — A newly obtained sheriff’s report indicates that a South Bay bus driver promised last month that there would be “some shooting” if he was fired for not meeting the Valley Transportation Authority’s vaccine mandate.
“If I get fired today, you’re going to see me on the news,” the driver, Douglas Lofstrom, told a co-worker, according to an investigatory report into the June 17 incident. Lofstrom was arrested shortly after the alleged threats were made, but law enforcement did not detail the reason at the time.
Lofstrom’s conduct — and its aftermath — have become a raging point of contention at the transit agency, where a top union official has blamed agency management for placing pressure on Lofstrom through the vaccine mandate, and other employees are now expressing outrage that neither the union nor the agency are taking forceful action against violent threats at a workplace subjected to a horrific mass shooting just more than a year ago.
