Sources: 3 hostages, gunman dead after day-long standoff at Yountville veterans home
YOUNTVILLE, California -- Four people are dead after a man wearing body armor and armed with a rifle stormed into a Napa County veterans home Friday morning, sources confirm.
The day-long hostage situation, which started around 10:30 a.m. at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville ended Friday evening with the gunman killing three hostages. The suspect is also dead, though it is unclear how he died.
Law enforcement from the Napa County, the California Highway Patrol and FBI surrounded the Veterans Home of California in Yountville, which is the largest veterans' residence community in the United States, for more than eight hours.
Authorities held their first formal press conference shortly after 2 p.m. and confirmed that a male suspect entered the Pathways Home building.
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Deputies and the suspect exchanged gun fire earlier in the day, Napa County Sheriff John Robertson said. Robertson confirmed that "many bullets" were fired from both sides.
Larry Kamer told our sister station ABC7 that his wife and six other women were attending a going away party for a colleague of when the suspect broke in with a rifle. The gunman, Kamer said, let four of the women go, including his wife, and held three hostage.
The women, Kamer said, work with Pathway Home, a non-profit that provides services to veterans. Kamer is also a volunteer with Pathway and formerly sat on the organization's board of directors.
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The situation started around 10:30 a.m. Friday, with the Napa County Sheriff's Department issued an alert to residents warning them to avoid the area. The home has been on lockdown since and those in the area have been asked to shelter in place.
About 1,000 male and female disabled and elderly veterans from World War II and the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq live at the home, according to its website.
