![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_18068707915237.jpg.jpg\")
Larry Kamer told The Associated Press that his wife, Devereaux Smith, was at the party and told him by phone that the gunman had entered the room quietly, letting some people leave while taking others hostage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith, a fundraiser for the nonprofit Pathway Home, was still inside the facility\u2019s dining hall and was not allowed to leave, he said. The Pathway Home, a privately run program on the veteran home\u2019s grounds, treats veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with post-traumatic stress disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Napa Valley Register reported that the man was wearing body armor and reportedly armed with an automatic weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fransen said authorities were working to establish a secure perimeter around the facility, which is home to about 1,000 residents. An armored police vehicle, ambulances and several fire trucks were at the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Events manager Elizabeth Naylor, who was working about 10 miles north of the veterans\u2019 home, said she heard waves of emergency sirens. She said she\u2019s lived in Yountville since 1995 and is rattled about a shooting so close to home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t know the world we live in today, I really don\u2019t,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is a little community and we all know each other. Napa Valley is a wonderful, beautiful place and to know this is in your background, it\u2019s unsettling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Napa County Sheriff\u2019s Department issued an alert to residents at 10:30 a.m. warning them to avoid the area. The department did not immediately respond to a telephone call from The Associated Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The state Veterans Affairs department says the home that opened in 1984 is the nation\u2019s largest veterans home, with about 1,000 elderly and disabled residents. Its website says it offers residential accommodations with recreational, social, and therapeutic activities for independent living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The grounds also are home to a 1,200-seat theater, a 9-hole golf course, a baseball stadium, bowling lanes, a swimming pool, and a military Base Exchange branch store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yountville is a small town home to wineries such as Domaine Chandon, which is less than a half-mile from the veterans home, and Thomas Keller\u2019s famed restaurant The French Laundry, which is about a mile away. Messages left at both establishments were not immediately returned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Napa County Fire captain Chase Beckman says a gunman has taken hostages at a veterans home in California.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":67807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,12,26,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1824],"class_list":["post-34593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"QCSWGDGKWNAL5HFFILGG7CG644","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2018\/03\/09\/official-gunman-takes-hostages-at-california-vets-home\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_110417086516.jpg.jpg\")
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