YOUNTVILLE, Calif. \u2014 The gunman who killed three people who work for a California program that treats veterans for post-traumatic stress disorder was kicked out of the program, a relative of one victim said Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Albert Wong, 36, was identified as the man who went to The Pathway House therapy center on the sprawling campus of the largest veterans homes in the country and took a psychologist and two executives hostage, authorities said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wong slipped into a going-away party for two employees of The Pathway Home, authorities said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gunshots were fired around 10:30 a.m. after he arrived at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville but nothing more was heard from him or the women until their bodies were found at about 6 p.m., authorities said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wong\u2019s rental car was found nearby. A bomb-sniffing dog alerted on the car but no bombs were found, only a cellphone, authorities said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Killed were program Executive Director Christine Loeber, 48; Clinical Director Jennifer Golick, 42; and Jennifer Gonzalez, 29, a clinical psychologist with the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese brave women were accomplished professionals who dedicated their careers to serving our nation\u2019s veterans, working closely with those in the greatest need of attention after deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan,\u201d The Pathway Home said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gov. Jerry Brown said flags would be flown at half-staff at the capitol and said that he and his wife \u201care deeply saddened by the horrible violence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Golick was the top psychologist at the nonprofit home, which treats combat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was \u201cfar too early to say if they were chosen at random\u201d because investigators had not yet determined a motive, California Highway Patrol Assistant Chief Chris Childs said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Golick\u2019s father-in-law, Bob Golick, said she had recently ordered Wong removed from the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wong had been an Army infantryman who served a year in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012. He held a number of service awards, including one for expert marksmanship with a rifle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yountville, about 53 miles (85 kilometers) north of San Francisco, is one of the Napa Valley\u2019s most upscale towns, located in the heart of wine country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A sheriff\u2019s deputy responding to an emergency call Friday morning got into a shootout with the gunman but wasn\u2019t injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Highway Patrol Sgt. Robert Nacke said negotiators were unable to make contact with the gunman throughout the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Larry Kamer told The Associated Press that his wife, Devereaux Smith, was at a morning staff 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Police evacuated the property and closed off nearby roads to the veterans complex, which houses about 1,000 residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Army veteran and resident Bob Sloan, 73, was working at the home\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A group of about 80 students who were on the home\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey were a distance away from the shooting situation,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The state Veterans Affairs department said the home that opened in 1884 is the nation\u2019s largest veterans home and cares for elderly and disabled residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of all the medical institutions she has worked with, \u201cthis is the most placid, calm, serene place,\u201d she said. Earlier this week, when she last visited, she asked a doctor, \u201cWhat\u2019s your magic here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd then 48 hours later this happens,\u201d Bennett said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Correction: In a story March 9 about a fatal shooting at a California veterans\u2019 home, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Jennifer Golick phoned her husband to tell him a former patient was holding her captive. Her father-in-law, Bob Golick, told the AP the information in a telephone interview soon after Golick was taken hostage. The California Highway Patrol investigated the crime and found that there was no evidence Jennifer Golick called her husband while captive. That prompted AP to contact Bob Golick again. He acknowledged he had misinterpreted an emotional and disjointed phone conversation with his son, who had learned the identity of the man who took Golick hostage from others at the scene, not from his wife.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Three women who devoted their lives to helping traumatized veterans were killed by a patient who had been kicked out of their Northern California treatment program, authorities and a relative of a victim said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":105430,"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":12,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,12,26,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[5402,511],"class_list":["post-71174","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":"KNDUJS7O6RHYDKCURYHW4UECMY","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/2018\/03\/10\/california-gunman-in-veteran-center-killings-was-ex-patient\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n