California authorities say the gunman who killed three hostages before killing himself at a veterans home was a former Army soldier. The Napa County Sheriff's Department says 36-year-old Albert Wong was a patient at the facility, where he held three employees hostage in an eight-hour standoff Friday.
The three victims were employees of the Pathway Home, a counseling service for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, where Wong was a client.
The victims have been identified as 42-year-old Jennifer Golick, a clinical worker at the facility; 29-year-old Jennifer Gonzales, a clinical psychiatrist, and 48-year-old Christine Loeber, the facility's director. A motive for the killing has not been established.
The incident began Friday morning around 10:30 local time, when an armed man entered the veterans home and exchanged gunfire with a sheriff's deputy. The Napa County Sheriff says many bullets were fired in the shootout, but no one was hurt. An employee at the Pathway Home told CNN that the gunman then barged into a going-away party for employees leaving the job.
Some managed to escape before the gunman took hostages. California Governor Jerry Brown released a statement saying the shooting tragically took the lives of three people dedicated to serving our veterans, and ordered flags in the state's capitol to fly at half staff in tribute to the victims and their families.