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 on Friday.
Albert Wong, 36, was identified as the man who went to The Pathway House therapy center on the sprawling campus of the largest veterans’ home in the country and took a psychologist and two executives hostage, authorities said.
Gunshots were fired at about 10:30am, after Wong 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 6pm, authorities said.
Wong slipped into a going-away party for two employees of The Pathway Home, authorities said.
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.
“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.
Golick was the top psychologist at the Pathway Home, a nonprofit organization that treats combat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
It was “far too early to say if they were chosen at random” because investigators had not yet determined a motive, California Highway Patrol assistant chief Chris Childs said.
However, Golick’s father-in-law said she had recently ordered Wong removed from the program.
Golick called her husband, Mark, at about 10:30am to say that she had been taken hostage by the former soldier, Bob Golick said.
“Mark did not hear from her again,” Bob Golick said.
Wong had been an army infantryman who served one year in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012. He held a number of service awards, including one for expert marksmanship with a rifle.
Yountville, about 85km north of San Francisco, is one of the Napa Valley’s most upscale towns, located in the heart of wine country.
A sheriff’s deputy responding to an emergency call on Friday morning got into a shootout with the gunman, but was not injured.
Highway Patrol Sargent Robert Nacke said negotiators were unable to make contact with the gunman throughout the day.
Larry Kamer told reporters that his wife, Devereaux Smith, was at a morning staff party and told him by telephone that the gunman had entered the room quietly, letting some people leave while taking others hostage.
Smith, a fundraiser for the home, was still inside the facility’s dining hall and was not allowed to leave, he said.
Police evacuated the property and closed off nearby roads to the veterans complex, which houses about 1,000 residents.
Army veteran and resident Bob Sloan, 73, was working at the home’s TV station when a coworker came in and said he had heard four gunshots coming from the home.
Sloan sent alerts for residents to stay put.
The California Department of Veterans Affairs said that the home, which opened in 1884, is the nation’s largest veterans’ home and cares for elderly and disabled residents.
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.
Of all the medical institutions she has worked with, “this is the most placid, calm, serene place,” she said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese