Hostages taken at California veterans home

UPDATE: The standoff at the largest veterans home in the United States ended late Friday when police discovered the bodies of the gunman and his three hostages. Police identified the gunman as Albert Wong, 36, a former Army rifleman who served in Afghanistan between 2011 and 2012. He had sought treatment at the facility in Yountville, Calif., but had recently been kicked out of the program. The victims included Christine Loeber, 48, Jennifer Golick, 42, and Jennifer Gonzales, 29, a clinical psychologist with the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. Loeber and Golick were executives at The Pathway Home, a nonprofit post-traumatic stress disorder program at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville. Golick’s father-in-law told reporters she’d made the decision to expel Wong from the program. But California Highway Patrol Assistant Chief Chris Childs said it was too soon to know whether Wong chose his victims at random or targeted them specifically.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (3/9/2018, 5:40 p.m.): Police in Yountville, Calif., are dealing with a hostage situation at the largest veterans home in the United States, which has gone into lockdown. Authorities and family members said a gunman slipped into an employee going-away party Friday and took three people hostage. California Highway Patrol Sgt. Robert Nacke told reporters he knew of no injuries. The police know who the gunman is and are trying to contact him but have not released his name publicly. “We do have an active shooter situation with a hostage situation in Yountville,” Highway Patrol Officer John Fransen told KTVU of San Francisco. An armored police vehicle, ambulances and several fire trucks were at the facility, which is home to about 1,000 residents.