Three women and the gunman who took them hostage were found dead Friday evening at a home for military veterans in Northern California, hours after the gunman had fired at a deputy, the authorities said.

Assistant Chief Chris Childs of the California Highway Patrol said the four people were found shortly before 6 p.m. local time inside a room at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville, where the hostages had been taken.

“This is a tragic piece of news — one that we were really hoping we wouldn’t have to come before the public to give,” Chief Childs said at a brief news conference.

In a statement, the Napa County authorities identified the gunman as Albert Wong, 36, from Sacramento. The Associated Press, citing Defense Department records, said Mr. Wong was an Army veteran who had served in Afghanistan, and the Napa County statement said he had been associated with the Yountville facility’s Pathway Home treatment program.</s>(CNN) — A gunman and three female hostages were found dead at a military veterans home in Northern California on Friday evening, officials said, a grim end to a standoff that lasted nearly eight hours.

Shortly before 6 p.m., officers stormed into the room where the gunman had held the hostages at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville, said Chris Childs with the California Highway Patrol.

They found the gunman and the three hostages dead, he said. The coroner’s office identified the victims as Christine Loeber, 48; Jennifer Golick, 42; and Jennifer Gonzales, 29.

“This is a tragic piece of news, one that we were really hoping we wouldn’t have to come before the public to give,” Childs said.

Before officers entered the room, hostage negotiators spent hours trying to contact the gunman, who was a former client at The Pathway Home. Authorities identified him as Albert Wong, 36, of Sacramento.

Wong was a client of The Pathway Home, a nonprofit that helps veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and operates a rehabilitation center on Yountville property. He left the program two weeks ago, according to state Sen. Bill Dodd.

The chaos started when the gunman barged into a going-away party for Pathway employees leaving the job, according to Larry Kamer, who said his wife, Devereaux Smith, works there.

“They were having cake and toasting, apparently he just walked in with this rifle,” Kamer said. He said his wife and other employees managed to escape, though he didn’t say how.

Reports of “shots fired” came in Friday morning. Dozens of law enforcement officers responded about 10:20 a.m. local time, Napa County Sheriff John Robertson said.

As the man held the hostages in a room inside the building, authorities tried to make contact and at some point exchanged gunfire with the gunman.

“We’ve tried numerous times and been trying since 10:30 this morning to contact him by his own cell phone, and also the phones in the dorm area,” Robertson said.

It’s unclear whether the women were chosen at random, but they all worked at the facility.

Loeber was the executive director of The Pathway Home and Golick worked there as a staff psychologist. Gonzales was a clinical psychologist with the San Francisco Department of Veterans’ Affairs Healthcare System.

“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.

The Yountville facility is the largest veterans’ home in the country, according to the California Department of Veterans.

California Gov. Jerry Brown said the shooting “tragically took the lives of three people dedicated to serving our veterans.”

“Our hearts go out to their families and loved ones, and the entire community of Yountville,” Brown said in a statement.

The governor has ordered flags in the state’s capitol to fly at half staff in tribute to the victims and their families.

About 70 students who were inside a theater on the grounds of the veterans home were safely evacuated, Robertson said.

Wong had been a client of The Pathway Home, which operates an independent 35,000-square-foot center within the Yountville facility.

Its staff of 18 people has treated more than 400 veterans since 2008. Male veterans enrolled in the live-in program are mostly soldiers returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who have difficulty transitioning into civilian life.

Dozens of returning veterans have graduated from the program, including Adam Schumann, the subject of the book and Hollywood film “Thank You For Your Service” starring actor Miles Teller.

The Veterans Home of California and all its programs, including The Pathway Home, are an important part of the Napa Valley Community, with the 1,200-seat Lincoln Theater, a golf course and a large library, the California Department of Veterans Affairs said.

Residents were temporarily evacuated from the veterans home in October when fires raged through Napa County.

Yountville is a town of about 3,000 residents in the north San Francisco Bay area.</s>The victims have not yet been identified.

A day-long hostage situation that began around 10 a.m. local standard time at the California Veterans Home in Yountville, California, has ended in the deaths of three of the hostages and the gunman. According to Chris Childs, assistant chief of the California Highway Patrol, the four bodies were discovered approximately eight hours after the standoff began when officers entered the room where the gunman had been holding the hostages. The victims names are being withheld pending notification of the families, and, though the gunman has been identified by police, they have not yet made the information public.

The Los Angeles Times reports that California Senator Bill Dodd told a local news channel that the gunman was a veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition, the shooter had also served in the Middle East, and he had been asked to leave the facility earlier in the week.

The gunman slipped into an employee going-away party on the campus of the veterans home, which is a facility that treats combat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who suffer from PTSD or traumatic brain injury. Dispatchers notified responding deputies that the gunman was possibly dressed in all black, was a former resident of the facility, and had a stash of bullets around his neck.

The three female victims were employed by Pathway Home treatment program, a nonprofit organization, which is housed on the campus of the home. It is not clear if the hostages were random victims or if they had some connection with the gunman. Police said hostage negotiators were on-scene, but were unable to make contact with the gunman. A sheriff’s deputy did engage with the shooter, but it is not clear if the gunman was shot by police, although Chris Childs credits the deputy for “eliminating the ability of the suspect to go out and find other victims.”

Childs called the outcome “a tragic piece of news, one that we were really hoping we wouldn’t have to come before the public to give.” The veterans home in Yountville is the largest veterans home in the United States and is home to approximately 1,000 aging vets who served in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Desert Storm, and Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom.</s>An aerial view of the veteran's home in Yountville, California: KTVU screenshot

A gunman has taken three people hostage at a California veterans home.

Law enforcement authorities from multiple agencies responded to a report in the morning of shots being fired at the Yountville Veterans Home in Napa County, working to clear buildings and establish a perimeter.

A sheriff’s deputy exchanged gunfire with the assailant, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said. The suspect released some people before retreating into a room with three hostages, all of whom were employees of a programme called the Pathway Home that works with veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There were no reported injuries. In the early evening, California Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt Robert Nacke said he knows of no contact on Friday with the gunman or the people who were holed up with him at the veterans home.

“There has not been any confirmed communication with the gunman since 10:30 in the morning,” he told reporters.

Calling the situation at the veterans home “dynamic and active”, Mr Nacke said he had no information about the hostages or their conditions.

Police tactical teams are forming plans on how to deal with the ongoing situation, he added.

“We have quite a few hostage negotiators working for a peaceful resolution to this”, Napa Sheriff John Robertson told reporters in the afternoon, adding that he did not yet know what the suspect’s potential motivation was.

Authorities said they had identified the shooter but were not yet releasing his name. They said he was believed to have used a rifle but did not identify the model.

A man named Larry Kamer, who said his wife worked as fundraiser for Pathway Home, told multiple news outlets that the gunman entered a going-away party before seizing hostages.

Napa County Sheriff’s officials directed people to avoid the area. The California Highway Patrol said it had deployed officers and a SWAT team to the scene.

Video from the scene showed an armoured vehicle joining police cars in surrounding the facility.

The facility is America’s largest veteran’s home, according to California, housing some 1,000 people.

Yountville sits in the heart of California wine country, an area known for fine wine and upscale restaurants.</s>Yountville, California: Three women and a gunman who held them hostage at a California veterans home were found dead late on Friday, bringing a tragic end to an all-day standoff with police at the sprawling facility, authorities said.

A state senator whose district includes the area, Bill Dodd, earlier told reporters that the gunman was a member of Pathway Home, a program for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and that the hostages were believed to be employees of the facility.

"This is a tragic piece of news we hoped not to share with the public," California Highway Patrol spokesman Chris Childs told reporters outside the sprawling facility in Yountville, a picturesque town located in the heart of Napa Valley`s wine country about 60 miles (97 km) north of San Francisco.

The siege came less than a month after a former student with an assault-style rifle killed 17 people at a Florida high school. That massacre touched off a student-led drive for new restrictions on gun sales to curb mass shootings that have occurred with frightening frequency in the United States over the past few years.

The Veterans Home of California, which houses about 1,000 disabled and aging military veterans, is the largest facility of its kind in the 

 United States. The Pathway Home is housed in a separate building on the campus.

The entire complex, its staff and residents were placed under a security lockdown during the siege.

The gunman walked into the Pathway Home building carrying a rifle during a going-away party for one of the employees, according to Larry Kamer, the husband of one of the program`s administrators who said he spoke to his wife by telephone during the standoff.</s>YOUNTVILLE, Calif. – After an apparent hourslong standoff between police and a gunman, three women were found dead Friday night at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville, authorities said.

The suspect was also found dead, Chris Childs, assistant chief of the California Highway Patrol’s Golden Gate Division, told reporters.

The three victims were earlier described as employees of The Pathway Home, a counseling service for veterans who suffer post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is on the property.

The suspect had been a client at facility until he left two weeks ago, according to State Senator Bill Dodd.

It’s unclear if the women were chosen at random or had a connection with the gunman.

Hostage negotiators had spent hours trying to contact the gunman at the facility north of San Francisco but were not able to do so, according to California Highway Patrol spokesman Robert Nacke. After the victims were found, investigators were left to determine when during the standoff the deaths occurred.

Chris Childs, assistant chief of the California Highway Patrol’s Golden Gate Division reporters that three women and the gunman at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville.

California Gov. Jerry Brown said the shooting “tragically took the lives of three people dedicated to serving our veterans.”

“Our hearts go out to their families and loved ones and the entire community of Yountville,” Brown said in a statement.

The governor has ordered flags in the state’s capitol to fly at half staff in tribute to the victims and their families.

Larry Kamer told CNN that his wife, Pathway employee Devereaux Smith, said the gunman barged into a going-away party for Pathway employees leaving the job.

“They were having cake and toasting, apparently he just walked in with this rifle,” Kamer said. He said his wife and some other employees managed to escape, though he didn’t say how.

The man was holding the three people hostage in a room inside the building, Napa County Sheriff John Robertson said during the afternoon.

“We’ve tried numerous times and been trying since 10:30 this morning to contact him by his own cell phone and also the phones in the dorm area,” the sheriff said.

Officers are at the scene Friday at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville. He said authorities knew the gunman’s identity but did not release it. Robertson didn’t give a motive for the gunman’s actions.

Early in the standoff, the man and officers fired shots at each other.

“There was an exchange of gunfire, fired by the suspect and our deputy,” Robertson said. “There were many bullets fired.”

Law enforcement officers responded to a “shots fired” report around 10:20 a.m. local time from the facility that houses about 1,000 veterans, Robertson said.

Robertson said about 70 students who were inside a theater on the grounds of the veterans home, were safely evacuated.

“They were always safe,” the sheriff said. “They were put into a locked down position for their own safety.” The ages of the students or why they were at the veterans home was not clear Friday afternoon.

A sheriff’s hostage negotiation team passes a California Highway Patrol checkpoint at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville.

The California Department of Veterans (CalVet), which operates the home, said it enacted its emergency protocol. Police surrounded the facility and told people to avoid the area.

Marlon Harrison was one of the family members who gathered outside the gates to the home.

“I’m waiting for a phone call from my daughter,” Harrison said. “It’s considered a lockdown building, you can’t go in unless authorized.”

Law enforcement members stage near the Veterans Home of California on Friday.

The FBI deployed a SWAT team to Yountville, spokesperson Katherine Zackel said. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said via Twitter it was also responding.

Founded in 1884, the facility houses about 1,000 aging vets and is the largest veterans home in the United States, according to the CalVet. Men and women who served in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Desert Storm and Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom live there, CalVet said.

The veterans home is an important part of the Napa Valley Community, with the 1,200-seat Lincoln Theater, a golf course and a large library, CalVet said.

Residents were temporarily evacuated from the veterans home in October when fires raged through Napa County.

Yountville is a town of about 3,000 residents in the north San Francisco Bay area.</s>YOUNTVILLE, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on an armed man at a veterans home in Northern California (all times local):

7:45 p.m.

 

 A U.S. official says a gunman and three hostages have been found dead after a shooting and standoff at a veterans home in California.

 

 The official wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press Friday on condition of anonymity.

 

 Authorities said earlier Friday evening that they hadn't had contact with the gunman for nearly eight hours since he slipped into an employee going-away party at the largest veterans home in the United States.

 

 6:10 p.m.

 

 Authorities have not had contact with the gunman holding three people hostage for nearly eight hours and police tactical teams are forming plans on how to deal with the ongoing situation at a veterans home in California.

 

 California Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Robert Nacke told reporters that "there has not been any confirmed communication with the gunman since 10:30 in the morning."

 

 Nacke called the situation at the veterans home "dynamic and active" and said he had no information about the hostages or their conditions.

 

 He says tactical teams are "deciding which way to move forward."

 

 Officials said those being held are employees of The Pathway Home, a privately run program on the veterans home's grounds.

 

 ___

 

 5:45 p.m.

 

 Officers at the scene of a California veterans home where a man is holding three people hostage say they have had no contact with the gunman since shots were fired around 10:20 a.m.

 

 California Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Robert Nacke said he knows of no contact Friday with the gunman or the people who were holed up with him at the veterans home in Yountville.

 

 Police wearing fatigues have surrounded the building, and officials said earlier that three hostage-negotiation teams were at the scene to talk with the gunman.

 

 Officials said those being held are employees of The Pathway Home, a privately run program on the veterans home's grounds.

 

 The program treats veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with post-traumatic stress disorder.

 

 ___

 

 5:30 p.m.

 

 A resident of a veterans home in California's wine country says more than a dozen armed troops have marched into the building where a gunman is holding three people hostage.

 

 Brian Goder had been locked down in the main dining room of the Veterans Home of California-Yountville for hours.

 

 Authorities say they're trying to negotiate with the gunman whose hostages are employees of the Pathway Home, a privately run program on the veterans home's grounds. The program treats veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with post-traumatic stress disorder.

 

 Goder says the program treats veterans who "have more troubles than others."

 

 He posted videos on Facebook of the police wearing fatigues marching into the building around 3 p.m. It wasn't clear what agency they were from.

 

 ___

 

 3 p.m.

 

 An Army veteran says he has sent out alerts for residents of the largest veterans home in the U.S. to stay in place after a gunman took three people hostage.

 

 Bob Sloan says he was working at the California facility's resident-run TV station when a co-worker came in Friday morning and said he had just heard four gunshots coming from the nearby Pathway Home, a privately run program for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder on the grounds.

 

 Sloan, a retired police officer, says residents are getting concerned because the situation has been going on so long.

 

 He says he can see officers with "long-barrel assault-type weapons" crouching around the building and some taking cover behind trees.

 

 Sloan says he sent out a red banner on in-house TV that read, "Emergency notice. This is an active situation, ongoing."

 

 ___

 

 2:35 p.m.

 

 California authorities say some students rehearsing a play on the grounds of the largest veterans home in the U.S. had been locked down when a gunman took hostages.

 

 But Napa County Sheriff John Robertson told reporters that about 80 students were near the area where the hostages were taken but were never in danger.

 

 Teenagers from Justin-Siena High School who had been rehearsing in the theater drove themselves out in a line of cars Friday afternoon.

 

 Sasha Craig spotted a family car carrying her 15- and 17-year-old children. She ran toward it, blowing kisses. She says teens had been texting their parents to "chill."

 

 ___

 

 2:30 p.m.

 

 California authorities say they've been trying to contact the gunman holding three veterans program employees hostage at the largest veterans home in the U.S.

 

 Napa County Sheriff John Robertson told reporters that authorities have been trying to reach him on his cellphone and other nearby phones since Friday morning. He says officials know who the gunman is but weren't releasing his name and didn't know what his motive was.

 

 Robertson says the gunman released some hostages and kept the three.

 

 California Highway Patrol Assistant Chief Chris Childs says those still being held are employees of The Pathway Home, a privately run program on the veterans home's grounds. The program treats veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with post-traumatic stress disorder.

 

 Childs says the gun is a rifle, but he's not sure of the type.

 

 ___

 

 2:20 p.m.

 

 California authorities say officers exchanged gunfire with a gunman holding three veterans program employees hostage at the largest veterans home in the U.S.

 

 Napa County Sheriff John Robertson told reporters Friday that "many bullets" were fired but that the deputies weren't injured. He says he doesn't know the status of the hostages or the gunman's motive.

 

 California Highway Patrol Assistant Chief Chris Childs says they haven't made contact with the gunman who's confined to one room but that hostage negotiators are standing by.

 

 He says the hostages are employees of The Pathway Home, a privately run program on the veterans home's grounds. The program treats veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with post-traumatic stress disorder.

 

 ___

 

 1:30 p.m.

 

 Jan Thornton of Vallejo is among hundreds of relatives worried about their loved ones at a Northern California veterans home that was locked down after reports of an active shooter.

 

 Thornton says her 96-year-old father - a WWII fighter pilot - is inside a hospital wing at the home in Yountville, north of San Francisco.

 

 Thornton says she's still shaking and that she hasn't been able to talk to her father. But, she says she was able to talk to one of his friends, who is also locked down, and that he told her that her father is safe.

 

 She says her "heart just bleeds for the people that are being held hostage."

 

 Though she thinks her dad is safe, she is still worried about the stress of the situation, considering his age and that he has post-traumatic stress disorder and some dementia.

 

 ___

 

 1:00 p.m.

 

 A man says a gunman quietly came into a going-away party and staff meeting at a Northern California veterans home and let some leave, while keeping others hostage.

 

 Larry Kamer says his wife, Devereaux Smith, is a fundraiser for the nonprofit Pathway Home.

 

 She was at the party Friday morning of 10 to 15 people at the Yountville veterans home. Pathway Home's program treats veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with post-traumatic stress disorder.

 

 Kamer says his wife is now inside the home's dining hall and is not allowed to leave. He spoke to her by phone.

 

 He does not know if the shooter was a veteran receiving treatment from the home.

 

 Napa County Fire captain Chase Beckman said earlier that the gunman took at least three people hostage.

 

 Kamer said he does not know why the shooter let his wife and some colleagues leave.

 

 ___

 

 12:00 p.m.

 

 A fire official says no injured people have been treated at a California veterans home where at least three people have been taken hostage.

 

 Napa County Fire Capt. Chase Beckman says dispatch received a call Friday morning about an armed man on the grounds.

 

 An armored police vehicle, ambulances and several firetrucks could be seen at the scene.

 

 California Highway Patrol Officer John Fransen confirms that there is an active shooter at the Veterans Home in Yountville, north of San Francisco.

 

 He tells KTVU-TV the property of the large veterans home was evacuated after a man with a gun was reported on the grounds. He says officers are working to establish a secure perimeter around the facility and make sure others are safe.

 

 The Yountville facility is the largest veterans' home in the United States, with about 1,000 residents.

 

 Yountville is in Napa Valley, the heart of Northern California's wine country.

 

 ___

 

 11:36 a.m.

 

 Napa County Fire captain Chase Beckman says a gunman has taken hostages at a veterans home in California.

 

 Police closed access to the large veterans home in Yountville after a man with a gun was reported on the grounds.

 

 The Napa County Sheriff's Department issued an alert to residents at 10:30 a.m. Friday warning them to avoid the area because of "activity at the Veterans Home in Yountville."

 

 The Napa Valley Register reported that a man wearing body armor and armed with an automatic weapon entered the home.

 

 The sheriff's department did not immediately respond to a telephone call from The Associated Press.

 

 The state Veterans Affairs department says it is the largest veterans' home in the United States, with about 1,000 residents,

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>The Pathway Home hostages (left to right): Jen Golick, 42; Jennifer Gonzales, 29; and Christine Loeber, 48. Facebook

On Friday evening, a gunman and three hostages were found dead after a daylong standoff with police at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville, law-enforcement officials said.

The suspected gunman, Albert Wong, was reportedly an ex-patient of the home and shot at a sheriff's deputy as he held the three hostages, all of whom worked at the veterans home. Police breached the room where they were being held at the facility shortly before 6:00 p.m. local time and found all four dead, according to California Highway Patrol assistant chief Chris Childs.

Local media outlets reported that Wong was a veteran and a former member of The Pathway Home program, which launched in 2008. On the program's website, it says it helps veterans "cope with the effects of their deployment," specifically in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here are the three victims of the shooting:</s>Assistant Chief Chris Childs of the California Highway Patrol said the four people were found shortly before 6 p.m. local time inside a room at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville where the hostages had been taken.

Childs did not provide details about the gunman, the victims or how the four people died.

“This is a tragic piece of news — one that we were really hoping we wouldn’t have to come before the public to give,” he said at a brief news conference.

Earlier in the day, Childs said the women were employees of the Pathway Home — employees, he said, whose job it was to “help our veterans.” The Pathway Home, according to its website, provides post-Sept. 11 veterans with academic and vocational support as they prepare to ease back into the civilian world.

According to some news reports, the gunman had been a member of the Pathway Home until recently, when he was asked to leave.

Some time after law enforcement responded to a call about shots having been fired, a deputy and the gunman exchanged gunfire, Napa County Sheriff John Robertson said.

“There were many bullets fired,” he said at an afternoon news conference, adding that, at some point, the gunman released hostages, although it was unclear how many.

By Friday evening, a Highway Patrol spokesman said there had not been any confirmed contact with the gunman or the hostages since 10:30 a.m.

State officials said the Yountville facility was the largest veterans home in the country. The sprawling campus in the heart of California’s wine country houses about 1,000 veterans, providing independent living, dementia care and skilled nursing care for its residents.

After the Civil War, many states established veterans homes to care for the thousands of injured soldiers returning from war. Yountville was California’s first, established in 1884 on a sprawling, idyllic site that now consists of stucco and red-tile-roof dormitories, a library, a swimming pool and a golf course.

State homes expanded after World War I, when the federal government began paying states a per diem to house and care for elderly and disabled veterans. They are operated by the states but largely funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs. There are now 153 such homes across the country, according to the National Association of State Veterans Homes, that provide nursing care and adult day care.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

MATT STEVENS and MITCH SMITH © 2018 The New York Times</s>Three women and a gunman who held them hostage at a California home for U.S. war veterans were found dead inside the room where he was holed up on Friday, bringing a tragic end to an all-day standoff with police at the facility, authorities said.

A state senator whose district includes the area, Bill Dodd, earlier told reporters the gunman was a member of Pathway Home, a program housed at the complex for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. The hostages were believed to be employees who had worked with him at the sprawling facility, he said.

“This is a tragic piece of news, one that we were really hoping we wouldn’t have to come before the public to give,” California Highway Patrol spokesman Chris Childs told reporters outside the facility in Yountville, a picturesque town located in the heart of Napa Valley’s wine country about 60 miles (97 km) north of San Francisco.

Despite repeated efforts by police negotiators to communicate with the suspect throughout the day, authorities said they had failed to make contact with the gunman after he exchanged gunfire with a sheriff’s deputy at the outset.

“We credit him (the deputy) with saving the lives of others in the area by eliminating the ability of the suspect to go out and find other victims,” Childs said.

The siege came less than a month after a former student with an assault-style rifle killed 17 people at a Florida high school. That massacre touched off a student-led drive for new restrictions on gun sales to curb mass shootings that have occurred with frightening frequency in the United States over the past few years.

The Veterans Home of California, a residence for about 1,000 U.S. military veterans, is the largest facility of its kind in the United States. The Pathway Home is housed in a separate building on the campus.

The entire complex, its staff and residents were placed under a security lockdown during the siege, which began at about 10:30 a.m. local time (1830 GMT Friday) and ended nearly eight hours later.

Childs said officers who eventually entered the room where the hostages were known to have been held found all four bodies there. He did not elaborate on how the victims or gunman had died.

The incident began when the gunman calmly walked into the Pathway Home building carrying a rifle during a going-away party for one of the employees, according to Larry Kamer, the husband of one of the program’s administrators.

Kamer, who volunteers at the home and was acting as an unofficial spokesman for the facility, said his wife told him by telephone during the siege that the gunman had allowed her and three other women to leave the room where the party was taking place, while three female employees remained behind as hostages.

The Napa County sheriff’s deputy who confronted the gunman had arrived at the scene within four minutes of the first reports of gunfire, Sheriff John Robertson said.

Authorities know the gunman’s identity, he said, but were not disclosing his name publicly.

A resident of the home, identified as Rod Allen by the CBS television affiliate KPIX-TV, said the gunman took the hostages after allowing some people at the party to leave. He fired about 30 shots, the resident said.

James Musson, a 75-year-old Army veteran and resident of the facility, told Reuters many who lived there voiced concerns about lax security, saying visitors could walk in and out without restriction and that public safety officers were not armed. “There might be something that might provide a greater degree of security, I don’t know if this event will trigger something like that,” he said.
An Afghan War veteran and recently expelled resident takes an executive director and two psychologists into a room at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville, California. Seven hours later, California Highway Patrol officers find all of them shot dead.