Gunman was patient at veterans home before he killed three hostages, police
A tense standoff between the police and a gunman who had stormed into a California veterans home and taken three clinicians hostage came to a grim end on Friday night when officers entered the room the gunman was in to find him and the hostages dead.
Authorities said Albert Wong, 36, arrived at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville in Napa County - the largest veterans home in the United States - in the morning with a rifle and exchanged gunfire with a sheriff's deputy before crashing a farewell party for employees and took three hostages: Christine Loeber, 48, Jen Golick, 42, Jennifer Gonzales, 29.
"There was a going-away party for a couple of the staff who were leaving today. Today was their last day. They were having cake and toasting and apparently he just walked in with this rifle," said Larry Kamer, who told reporters that his wife, an employee for the Pathway Home, was at the event.
Kamer said his wife was one of the hostages who had been allowed to leave.
The standoff had lasted about eight hours, paralysing the complex and nearby areas. Law enforcement officers from state and federal agencies had swarmed around the building as worried family members waited outside. Those inside were told to shelter in place.
State Senator Bill Dodd, who represents the area, said on NBC that the gunman had been dismissed from a veterans program at the facility this week.
The scene brought fear and terror to the small town of about 3,000 in the heart of California's wine country as armoured vehicles descended on an area perhaps most famous for the upscale restaurant the French Laundry.
Police at the scene of the shooting at a California veterans home.
And it was another trauma for an area still recovering from a series of devastating wildfires in October. The veterans home had been evacuated during the fires.
The confrontation stretched throughout the day and into the evening. Teams of federal, state and local law enforcement officials and hostage negotiators from three agencies had been unable to make contact with the gunman or the hostages throughout the day, officials said.
But at about 6pm local time, officers entered the room and discovered the bodies of the three women and Wong, dead of apparent gunshot wounds.
"We are deeply saddened by the tragic situation in Yountville and mourn the loss of three incredible women who cared for our Veterans," President Donald Trump said in a Saturday post on Twitter.
Bob Golick said in a Friday afternoon interview with The Associated Press that his daughter-in-law, Jennifer Golick, called his son around 10:30am on Friday to say she had been taken hostage in the building where she worked. The son, Mark Golick, is Jennifer Golick's husband.
"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.
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