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Gunman and three hostages found dead at US veterans' home Gunman and three hostages found dead at US veterans' home
(about 7 hours later)
Three women and a gunman who held them hostage at a California veterans’ home were found dead on Friday evening local time, bringing a tragic end to an all-day siege at the sprawling facility for ageing and disabled former members of the US military, police said. Three women who devoted their lives to helping traumatized veterans were killed by a patient who had been kicked out of their treatment program, authorities and a relative of a victim said.
A state senator earlier told reporters that the gunman was a member of the Pathway Home, a program for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and that the hostages were believed to be employees of the facility. A day-long siege at the Pathway Home in Yountville in northern California ended on Friday evening with the discovery of four bodies, including the gunman. He was identified as Albert Wong, 36, a former US army rifleman who served a year in Afghanistan in 2011-2012.
The gunman had slipped into an employee going-away party at the largest veterans’ home in the United States and took three people hostage on Friday morning in a shootout and standoff that kept the sprawling California grounds locked down for hours, authorities and family members said. Investigators were trying to determine when and why Wong killed two executives and a psychologist at the Pathway Home, a nonprofit post-traumatic stress disorder program at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville in the Napa Valley wine country region.
Nearly eight hours after the standoff began at about 10.30am, authorities said they still didn’t know what was going on inside the room where the gunman and the hostages were. It was “far too early to say if they were chosen at random” because investigators had not yet determined a motive, California highway patrol assistant chief Chris Childs said.
Police evacuated the property and closed off nearby roads. An armoured police vehicle, ambulances and several firetrucks were at the facility, which has about 1,000 residents. Governor Jerry Brown ordered flags flown at half-staff at the capitol in memory of the victims. They were identified as Pathway Home executive director Christine Loeber, 48; clinical director Jennifer Golick, 42; and Jennifer Gonzales, 29, a clinical psychologist with the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.
Napa county sheriff John Robertson told reporters Friday that “there was an exchange of gunfire by both our deputy and the suspect” and that “many bullets” were fired, but that police weren’t injured. “These brave women were accomplished professionals who dedicated their careers to serving our nation’s veterans, working closely with those in the greatest need of attention after deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan,” the Pathway Home said in a statement.
California highway patrol Sgt Robert Nacke told reporters that evening that negotiators had not been able to reach the gunman by phone after trying for several hours. Nacke said the situation remained “dynamic and active” during the brief news conference and that police tactical teams were deciding how to proceed. Golick’s father-in-law, Bob Golick, said in an interview she had recently expelled Wong from the program.
By 6pm, they had confirmed the fatalities, after entering the room where the hostages had been held. The Pathway Home is located on the sprawling campus of the veterans center, which cares for about 1,000 elderly and disabled vets. It is the largest veterans home in the nation, according to the state Department of Veterans Affairs.
Authorities said they knew who the gunman was but didn’t reveal his identity or motive for the attack at the state-run Veterans’ Home of California-Yountville, in one of Napa Valley’s most upscale towns in the heart of wine country. Wong went to the campus about 53 miles north of San Francisco on Friday morning, slipping into a going-away party for some employees of the Pathway House.
Army veteran and resident Bob Sloan, 73, was working at the home’s TV station when a co-worker came in and said he had heard four gunshots. Sloan sent alerts for residents to stay put. Larry Kamer told the Associated Press his wife, Devereaux Smith, called him to say the gunman had entered the room quietly, letting some people leave while taking others hostage.
“People are starting to get concerned because it’s been going on for so long,” he told AP by phone from inside the lockdown. Golick called her husband, Mark, to say that she had been taken hostage by the former soldier, her father-in-law said. Mark Golick didn’t hear from her again, Bob Golick said.
Except for helicopters buzzing overhead, the home was eerily quiet, Sloan said, adding that he could see police with “long-barrel assault-type weapons” crouching around the building, some taking cover behind trees. A Napa Valley sheriff’s deputy exchanged gunshots with the hostage-taker at about 10.30am but after that nothing was heard from Wong or his hostages despite efforts to contact him, authorities said.
Jan Thornton of Vallejo, California, was among hundreds of relatives worried about how their loved ones were coping with the lockdown. Thornton said her 96-year-old father, a World War II fighter pilot, was inside a hospital wing and that she had reached one of his friends who said he was safe. Army veteran and home resident Bob Sloan, 73, was working at the home’s TV station when a co-worker came in and said he had heard four gunshots coming from the Pathway Home. Sloan sent alerts for residents to stay put.
Still, she worried about the stress of the lockdown, considering her father’s age and that he has PTSD and some dementia, but that her heart was bleeding for those who were held hostage. A group of about 80 students who were on the home’s grounds were safely evacuated after being locked down, Napa County sheriff John Robertson said. The teens from Justin-Siena High School were at a theater rehearsing a play.
Sheriff Robertson said a group of about 80 students who were on the home’s grounds were safely evacuated after being locked down. The teenagers from Justin-Siena High School were at a theatre rehearsing a play. “They were a distance away from the shooting situation,” Robertson said.
“They were a distance away from the shooting situation,” he added. The bodies of Wong and the women were found at about 6pm. While authorities had the building under siege for about eight hours they did not enter it. Wong’s rental car was later found nearby. A bomb-sniffing dog alerted authorities to something on the car but the only thing found was a cellphone, authorities said.
California highway patrol assistant, Chief Chris Childs, said all three hostages were found dead inside the veterans’ home. Yvette Bennett, a wound-care supply worker who supplies the veterans center, was turned back when she tried to deliver what she called urgently needed medical supplies for two patients inside. Of all the medical institutions she has worked with, “this is the most placid, calm, serene place”, she said. Earlier this week, when she last visited, she asked a doctor: “What’s your magic here?”
He added that a bomb-sniffing dog had been alerted to the suspect’s car but no bombs were found in the vehicle. He noted that there is “no threat to public safety.” “And then 48 hours later this happens,” Bennett said.
CaliforniaCalifornia
US policingUS policing
US militaryUS military
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