SAN JOSE — The disgruntled VTA mechanic who gunned down nine coworkers in May harbored “dark thoughts about harming and vandalizing” two specific people, according to new details from a San Francisco airport encounter with customs agents when returning from the Philippines in 2016.

The two names were redacted from the report by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection after a Freedom of Information Act request from the Bay Area News Group, so it’s unclear if they were among the shooting victims or connected to the Valley Transportation Authority.

But the report raises new questions about why federal border agents appears to have never informed the VTA or local law enforcement just 35 miles away about what the agency labeled a “Significant Encounter” with  Cassidy, whose personnel file indicated an escalating pattern of conflicts and confrontations with coworkers in the years before his May 26 rampage — the deadliest mass shooting in Bay Area history.

Samuel James Cassidy (Santa Clara County) 

Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen said Wednesday that he had received a copy of the redacted report last week.

“I remain deeply troubled that something could have been done to identify or stop the man who cut down and destroyed so many lives,” Rosen said. “I am meeting with federal and local officials in coming weeks to address this issue. Sharing information saves lives.”

The border stop was first reported by the Wall Street Journal the day after the shooting, but the report released Wednesday reveals a number of new details.

Border agents spent two hours questioning Cassidy and searching his luggage and Samsung Galaxy S 4 phone on Aug. 8, 2016, when he returned from a two-week solo trip to the Philippines.

The report shows that the agents appeared to spend more time examining whether Cassidy had traveled abroad for “sex tourism” — noting the “sex friendly” hotels he listed in his writings along with text messages with local women — than the journal in his luggage that expressed his hatred of the VTA.

The Journal had reported that Cassidy was found with “books about terrorism and fear and manifestos…as well as a black memo book filled with lots of notes about how he hates the VTA.”

Agents asked Cassidy “if he had problems at work with anyone, and he stated no.”

The Journal did not include a number of details from the report, including what the agents considered “very strange writing” that included notes about Cassidy’s sexual encounters and his “dark thoughts” about harming others.

Cassidy had also written his list of goals for his trip, including “try not to have sex” and to go hiking and walking. But another goal for the trip was ominous: to “die there.”

The customs agent’s report says that Cassidy gave only vague and short answers. When asked whether he was taking any behavior-type medication, he said no, “but during the inspection a prescription bottle of Clonazepam” for anxiety was found. He also said he had met no one, but he had text messages from local women and a number of condoms and Viagra in his luggage.

A stack of papers pulled out from his luggage were maps around Angeles City with various bars circled and a “How to Guide” about where to find prostitutes and erotic stores. The guidebook also noted a particular hotel, where Cassidy stayed, was known for “sleazy sex encounters.”

“Cassidy was  questioned as to why he had all these documents, and gave an answer, “just to read,” the report said. “Subject continuously gave one to two word answers and no specific details entailing his trip.”

On the first page of Cassidy’s journal, the agents noted, Cassidy had written “Show immigration fake hotel bookings,” upon entry to the Philippines.

Cassidy asked the agents whether he should seek legal counsel, but none of the revelations in his luggage, including Cassidy’s dark thoughts about harming others, was apparently enough to do more than check Cassidy’s phone for pornography. Cassidy said he only had pictures of “young girls” in bikinis and agents found “5 images of pornographic like material, but nothing involving children.”

At 10:36 p.m. the agents returned all of Cassidy’s electronic devices to him and “no further actions were taken.”

Customs and Border Protection did not return calls Wednesday morning for further explanation of why agents didn’t pass the information to the VTA.

In recent weeks, after public records requests, VTA released a number of documents showing that Cassidy had been involved in five incidents, including angry outbursts over the radio system and berating a coworker over vacation schedules, but little action was taken against him.

Check back for more on this developing story.