Active shooter Napa county CAL

[roadmaster]

victims in Yountville veterans home shooting all worked for the Pathway Home program to help veterans suffering from PTSD - KNTV

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[roadmaster]

Gunman

[waltky]

PTSD patient shoots up Calif. veterans center...

Yountville attack: California hostage-taker was former patient
10 Mar.`18 - The man who killed three women after a stand-off at a veterans' home in Napa Valley, California was a former patient, authorities say.

The three victims were all employees at the centre in Yountville. The residential centre provides mental health services for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The suspected gunman, who died at the scene, has been named as Albert Wong, 36. No motive for the attack has been identified, police say. Wong, reportedly a former US Army rifleman, had left a programme to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The gunman entered the building while employees were having cake as a leaving celebration for some colleagues. After a siege lasting all day police discovered the four bodies in a room at The Pathway Home on Friday evening.

Praise for responding officer

The three employees who died have been named by the Napa County Sheriff-Coroner's Office as Jennifer Golick, 42, the clinical director, Christine Loeber, 48, the executive director, and 29-year-old Jennifer Gonzalez, a clinical psychologist. "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. Ms Golick's father-in-law told the Associated Press that she had recently removed Wong from the treatment programme.

The gunman took three women hostage but allowed others to escape

The soldier had spent a year in Afghanistan and had been awarded four medals, US media report. Assistant Chief Chris Childs of the California Highway Patrol paid tribute to the first officer on the scene, who, he said, put himself in harm's way and exchanged of gunfire with the suspect. "We believe and credit him with saving the lives of others in the area by eliminating the ability for the suspect to go out and find further victims," he said. It is not clear whether the victims or the suspect were alive in the time in between the last exchange of fire and the discovery of the bodies about eight hours later.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43358268

[Grokmaster]

No chance for a white-nationalist narrative...so no attention from the left...

[waltky]

The supplemental cost of war...

Shooter Saw Vets Program as Path to Heal After Deployment
11 Mar 2018 - When Albert Wong returned from an Army deployment in Afghanistan in 2013, he knew it had affected him. He had trouble adjusting to regular life, couldn't sleep at night and was hyper-vigilant about his surroundings.

But when he found a treatment program for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injuries, he saw it as a way to get help and readjust to civilian life until he was recently expelled, said Cissy Sherr, who was his legal guardian and raised him for several years as a child. On Friday, police said Wong slipped into a going-away party at the program, The Pathway Home, and took three employees hostage. After an hours-long standoff, Wong and three female workers were all found dead. As a child, Wong had always dreamed of joining the Army, said Sherr, who began caring for him when he was six after his father died and his mother developed medical issues. "He had a lot of role models in the Army," Sherr said Saturday in an interview with The Associated Press. "He was patriotic and he wanted to do that forever." Sherr and her husband raised Wong for several years, enrolled him in Catholic school and signed him up for baseball, basketball and track teams. Together, they traveled to Florida, Hawaii and Boston, where he experienced snow for the first time. "He was a pretty happy-go-lucky kid," Sherr said. "He always had a smile on his face."

When Wong became a teenager and Sherr and her husband worked full-time, they decided to put him in foster care. He stayed with a foster father in San Francisco who had other teenage boys and he attended high school near San Francisco. Wong served in the Army Reserve from 1998 until 2002, enlisted for active duty in May 2010 and was deployed to Afghanistan in April 2011, according to military records. He was a decorated soldier and received the Expert Marksmanship Badge. But that also meant Wong was tasked with dangerous assignments, where he saw "really horrible things" that affected his mental well-being, Sherr said. He sometimes called her before he'd go on a mission, when Army officials told the soldiers to call their families. "I had the impression he was kind of put in harm's way, knowing that he didn't have a family," she said. "He didn't seem the least bit resentful." Sherr said after Wong was honorably discharged from the Army in 2013, he planned to enroll in school and earn a degree in computer programming and business. "He loved computers and he liked music. He was thoughtful and independent," Sherr said. "He didn't have a traditional upbringing but still he became a fine young man."

A man passes by damaged windows at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville on March 10.

Wong, who had a passion for working out at the gym, would often bring his ailing mother her favorite foods and spent a lot of time with her before she died last year, Sherr said. But PTSD affected his ability to adjust to everyday life, Sherr said. He had trouble sleeping and was always wary of his surroundings. "I think he realized that it started to catch up with him," she said. "A couple of years ago, he told us if a door opens unexpectedly, I ask, 'What is that?'" Wong told Sherr he had found a program at the veterans home in Yountville, California, and had met people who helped him enroll in a treatment program. He was also receiving assistance at a veterans hospital in San Francisco, she said. He told Sherr: "I think I'm going to get a lot of help from this program," she said, seeing the program as a possible path to recovery with other veterans in a similar position. Officials have declined to provide additional information about why Wong was thrown out of the group.

But they say the former Army rifleman went to the center about 50 miles (85 kilometers) north of San Francisco Friday morning before exchanging gunfire with police and holding the women hostage in a room inside the center. The victims were identified as Executive Director Christine Loeber, 48; Clinical Director Jennifer Golick, 42; and Jennifer Gonzales Shushereba, 32, a clinical psychologist with the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. After the shooting, John Dunbar, the mayor of Yountville and a member of The Pathway Home's board of directors, said Wong was "one of our heroes who clearly had demons." The shooting has left Sherr with more questions than answers. Chief among them: Why did it happen and could more have been done to help Wong? "In less than a year -- less than half a year -- things started to unravel," she said. "He may have been without any resources to support him."

https://www.military.com/daily-news/...eployment.html

[waltky]

Shooter shot himself After Killing 3 Mental Health Workers...

Sheriff: Veteran Shot Self After Killing 3 Mental Health Workers
16 Mar 2018 — A combat veteran killed himself after fatally shooting three mental health workers last week at a California veterans home, authorities said Thursday.

The Napa County Sheriff's Office said Albert Wong, 36, shot the three workers in the head with a rifle at the California Veterans Home in Yountville. The sheriff didn't release the type of rifle used. The sheriff also serves as the county's coroner. The sheriff's office said that Wong then used a shotgun to shoot himself in the head Friday at The Pathway Home building. Pathway home was a nonprofit organization that treated combat veterans for post-traumatic stress syndrome and other mental health disorders.

lowers adorn the sign in front of Pathway Home, the building that houses a veterans program in Northern California a day after a deadly shooting in Younteville, Calif. Authorities say a combat veteran shot himself in the head with a shotgun after fatally shooting three mental health workers at a California veterans home. The Napa County Sheriff's Office said Thursday, March 15, 2018, that 36-year-old Albert Wong shot the three workers in the head with a rifle at the California Veterans Home in Yountville.

Wong, whose military records show he served in Afghanistan from April 2011 to March 2012, was enrolled in The Pathway Home's veteran treatment program until he was recently expelled, according to a relative of one of the women he killed. Law enforcement officials did not respond to questions about what led to Wong being dismissed from the program. Wong killed program director Christine Loeber and psychologists Jennifer Golick, and Jennifer Gonzales Shushereba, who was also pregnant.

Napa County Sheriff's Capt. Steven Blower said neither the victims nor Wong was shot by a deputy who exchanged gunfire with Wong when he first arrived at the veterans home Friday morning. The deputy was responding to a 10:20 a.m. report of shots fired. Wong ran into a room and closed the door during the gunfight no further shots were heard. Officers weren't sure if Wong and the victims were still alive and they surrounded the building for seven hours and attempted to contact Wong. Shortly before 6 p.m., a robot with a video camera showed all four people appearing to be dead, which officers soon confirmed. The Pathway board of directors announced Wednesday that the program was suspending operations "indefinitely."

https://www.military.com/daily-news/...h-workers.html