Here we go again:
The time of those tweets (2:18 pm, 2:16 pm, and 2:04 pm) are EST (my time), but it is 3 hours earlier in California where this is taking place.
YOUNTVILLE (KRON) – The Veterans Home of California Yountville is on lock down Friday morning after reports of an active shooter who is holding 3 hostages.
The Veterans Home tells KRON4 around 10:45 a.m. the entire facility, located at 260 California Dr., was ordered to shelter in place.
This is the largest veterans home in the United States, housing about 1,100 men and women.
There are preliminary reports of 30 shots fired outside the main dining area.
It is unclear if the shots were live rounds, according to an official from the Veteran’s Home.
California Highway Patrol is on scene.
#Yountville Napa scanner says he is armed with M4 rifle
— BevMarie (@evenbev) March 9, 2018
Many reports the man is acting alone and had body armor.
Other reports are saying 3 hostages.
Reported gunman at #Yountville Veterans Home reportedly is 36-year-old man discharged from on-campus Pathway Home two weeks ago.
#Napa authorities say the shooter is known to local law enforcement. He is believed to be holed up in one building on the veterans home complex with as many as 3 hostages. #Yountville #activeshooter @24_7_News.
— Michael McGauley (@McGauley2) March 9, 2018
UPDATE: After hours of trying to communicate with the gunman, police sent a robot in. The gunman was dead from a self-inflicted wound, as were the three hostages — all employees of the Pathway Home.
CNN:
The man who killed three hostages at a Northern California veterans’ home suffered from bipolar disorder, various physical ailments and anger issues, sources said.
Authorities said that Albert Wong, a 36-year-old Army veteran, used to be a resident of the Pathway Home, the Yountville facility where he engaged police in a standoff Friday. The Pathway Home, which operates out of the Veterans Home of California, is a nonprofit that helps post-9/11 military veterans reintegrate into civilian life, including by counseling clients with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The ordeal ended when police stormed the building and found Wong and three of the facility’s employees — Jennifer Golick, 42, Christine Loeber, 48, and Jennifer Gonzales, 32 — dead.
Wong had been kicked out of the program after he threatened one of the women, a law enforcement source told CNN.
“Whatever happened out there, he didn’t say he was going to shoot anybody,” Wong’s brother, Tyrone Lampkin, told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. “He said he wanted to get back at them, talk to them, yell at them, not to kill them. He didn’t mention that.”
Lampkin, who told CNN Wong was his adoptive brother, said they hadn’t seen each other since 2010 but communicated via text.
Records show Wong was in the Army reserves from October 1998 until December 2002 and served in active duty from May 2010 to August 2013. He was deployed to Afghanistan from April 2011 to March 2012, the records show.
Lampkin told CNN Wong seemed OK after his stint in the military.
“He talked to us about it, showed us pictures on Facebook, seemed happy, like nothing was wrong,” said Lampkin, who lives in Minneapolis.
But Wong was dogged by leg and back injuries and struggled with bipolar disorder, Lampkin said. He needed medication for his condition, Lampkin said, but complained that it was ineffective and would go off the drugs because he didn’t think they were helping.
