Authorities know ID of gunman at veterans home
UPDATE: 3/9/2018 2:37 p.m. California authorities say they’ve been trying to contact the gunman holding three veterans program employees hostage at the largest veterans home in the U.S.
Napa County Sheriff John Robertson told reporters that authorities have been trying to reach him on his cellphone and other nearby phones since Friday morning. He says officials know who the gunman is but weren’t releasing his name and didn’t know what his motive was.
Robertson says the gunman released some hostages and kept the three.
California Highway Patrol Assistant Chief Chris Childs says those still being held are employees of The Pathway Home, a privately run program on the veterans home’s grounds. The program treats veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Childs says the gun is a rifle, but he’s not sure of the type.
UPDATE: 3/9/2018 1:10 p.m. A man says a gunman quietly came into a going-away party and staff meeting at a Northern California veterans home and let some leave, while keeping others hostage.
Larry Kamer says his wife, Devereaux Smith, is a fundraiser for the nonprofit Pathway Home.
She was at the party Friday morning of 10 to 15 people at the Yountville veterans home. Pathway Home’s program treats veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Kamer says his wife is now inside the home’s dining hall and is not allowed to leave. He spoke to her by phone.
He does not know if the shooter was a veteran receiving treatment from the home.
Napa County Fire captain Chase Beckman said earlier that the gunman took at least three people hostage.
Kamer said he does not know why the shooter let his wife and some colleagues leave.
UPDATE: 3/9/2018 12:35 p.m. A fire official says no injured people have been treated at a California veterans home where at least three people have been taken hostage.
Napa County Fire Capt. Chase Beckman says dispatch received a call Friday morning about an armed man on the grounds.
An armored police vehicle, ambulances and several firetrucks are at the scene.
California Highway Patrol Officer John Fransen confirms that there is an active shooter at the Veterans Home in Yountville, north of San Francisco.
The property of the large veterans home was evacuated after a man with a gun was reported on the grounds. Officers are working to establish a secure perimeter around the facility and make sure others are safe.
The Yountville facility is the largest veterans’ home in the United States, with about 1,000 residents.
Yountville is in Napa Valley, the heart of Northern California’s wine country.
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Napa County Fire captain Chase Beckman said a gunman has taken hostages at a veterans home in California.
Police closed access to the large veterans home in Yountville after a man with a gun was reported on the grounds.
The Napa County Sheriff’s Department issued an alert to residents at 10:30 a.m. Friday warning them to avoid the area because of “activity at the Veterans Home in Yountville.”
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The Napa Valley Register reported that a man wearing body armor and armed with an automatic weapon entered the home.
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The state Veterans Affairs department says it is the largest veterans’ home in the United States, with about 1,000 residents.
