A gunman and three hostages were found dead Friday evening at a Northern California veterans care facility, concluding a stand-off that lasted for about eight hours, officials said.
Shortly before 6 p.m., officers entered the room where the gunman had been holding the hostages, officials with the California Highway Patrol said. Three women and a man, believed to be the suspect, were found dead, authorities said.
At about 10:20 a.m., authorities responded to reports of shots fired at the state-run Yountville Veterans Home, where a man with a rifle had walked into the Pathway Home building and taken three employees hostage, said Chris Childs, assistant chief for the California Highway Patrol's Golden Gate Division.
CHP Sgt. Robert Nacke said at a 6 p.m. news conference that the situation was "very dynamic" and that there had been no communication with the gunman or hostages since the standoff began.
The first Napa County sheriff's deputy to arrive exchanged gunfire with the man.
"There were many bullets fired," Sheriff John Robertson said.
The deputy was not injured. The condition of the hostages was not known at the time.
Authorities were aware of the suspect's identity and tried throughout the day to reach him on his cellphone to no avail, Childs said. Three hostage negotiators were at the scene.
California Sen. Bill Dodd told ABC7 that the gunman was a veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who had served in the Middle East. He had been asked to leave the facility earlier in the week, the Democrat said.
According to scanner traffic, dispatchers told responding deputies that the suspect was wearing all black and was a former resident at the 600-acre facility. They reported he was possibly wearing body armor.
Deputies were told the gunman was holed up with the hostages on the second floor of a building, where the nonprofit serves veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
"He's in Madison Hall, Building G, the Pathway House," the dispatcher said. "Units be advised he does have a stash of bullets around his neck."
The facility's Master Plan describes the Pathway Home program this way:
"The Pathway Home is an independent nonprofit organization offering a men's residential recovery program dedicated to helping veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury. The program is specifically focused on assisting soldiers who have returned from Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), and other Gulf War theaters. The program was started in 2008 on the grounds of Yountville's Veterans Home and is located in the Madison Hall. Since opening the program the staff of 18 has treated almost 200 non-senior veterans averaging 40 residents at any one time. It operates solely on private donations and grants."
The three hostages are Pathway employees, Childs said. The gunman freed everyone else in the room.
Soon after the man arrived, the campus was put on lockdown.
The facility is just north of Napa, a destination for wine and tourism. According to a spokesman, about 840 veterans live on the grounds.
