Dr Jennifer Gonzales, 29, above, was seven months pregnant when she, along with two other women, were shot at the Veterans Home of California, Yountville on Friday
Three women – including one who was pregnant – were murdered by a decorated former serviceman at a California veterans’ home, where he was reportedly removed from a PTSD program earlier this week.
Albert Wong, 36, killed Dr Jennifer Gonzales, 29, who was seven months pregnant, on Friday.
He also killed Christine Loeber, 48, who was Executive Director of the veteran center, and Dr Jen Golick, 42 who was a therapist at The Pathway Home.
The veteran home was on lockdown for more than 10 hours when Wong took the three female employees as hostage, before opening fire then turning the gun on himself.
Saturday locals have laid flowers down at the Pathway Home, a privately run program at the Veterans Home of California, Yountville in Napa in memory of the lives lost Friday.
Executive Director Christine Loeber, 48, (left) and Dr Jen Golick, 42, (right) were also killed in the shooting. All three women worked at The Pathway Home
Gonzales, above at her wedding last year, was pregnant with a son that would be named TJ at the time of her death. Her friends say she got married just last year and was to celebrate her anniversary this weekend
Albert Wong, 36, (circled right) had been receiving treatment at The Pathway Home in California before being asked to leave its PTSD program. On Friday he raided a going-away party held at the home, where he shot the women including executive director Christine Loeber, 48, (circled left) before turning the gun on himself
Albert Wong, 36, (pictured) has been identified as the suspect who stormed the largest veterans home in the US and shooting dead three women before killing himself on Friday
Gonzales was a psychologist with the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.
She was seven months pregnant, expecting a son to be named TJ.
She had gotten married one year ago and was planning to fly to Washington DC this weekend to celebrate the anniversary, according to family friend Vasiti Ritova.
‘Every aspect of Jenn’s life was dedicated to others and her caring and kind spirit was evident to everyone she met. Jenn leaves behind her best friend, husband, and father of her unborn child, TJ,’ a GoFundMe page for Gonzales said.
Ritova, whose niece cares for Gonzales’ grandmother, says she would visit her grandmother every weekend, sing to her and give her baths.
Marjorie Morrison, the founder of a nonprofit organization known as PsychArmor, says Gonzales was ‘brilliant’ and did amazing work with veterans with PTSD.
Saturday morning mourners paid tribute at The Veterans Home of California, where the shooting took place, where they offered flowers in wake of Friday’s deadly shooting
Resident Tom Parkinson placed flowers on a sign at the Veterans Home of California, the morning after the hostage situation in Yountville, California at The Pathway Home
The Veterans Home building a day after the shooting is still taped off by authorities after they found the four bodies in wake of the shooting
Fernando Juarez, 36, of Napa, center, embraces his 22-year-old sister Vanessa Flores, right, at the Veterans Home of California on Friday. She is a caregiver at the facility and exchanged texts with family while sheltering in place when Wong took over the building
A day after the shooting, damage to the building can be seen in the broken windows (above) after the day-long siege
All three of the women worked at The Pathway Home, a private veteran’s home in California, Yountville in Napa, where Wong was a former member.
Just earlier this week victim Jen Golick had reportedly asked Wong to leave the program, according to her father-in-law Bob Golick.
The reason for the expulsion is not clear.
Police said that more than 30 shots were fired at officials and the facility was in lockdown for nearly 10 hours.
Won’s former legal guardian Cissy Sherr described him as ‘calm and soft-spoken’ and revealed that he had a difficult time readjusting after his deployment in Afghanistan in 2013, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
She and her husband were legal guardians of Wong for a time when he was a child, in the wake of Wong’s father’s death after which his mother developed health problems.
He moved back into Sherr’s home for a month after returning from deployment in 2013 but had a hard time readjusting and couldn’t sleep at night.
He wanted to go back to school to study computers and business. He thought the Pathway Home program would help him.
President Trump acknowledged the tragedy on Twitter on Saturday morning
Officials said all three women were employees of The Pathway Home, a privately run program, at the Veterans Home. Wong, of Sacramento, was a former member of the Pathway Home Program
Gunfire was first reported at 10.20 am after the 36-year-old man stormed a going away party being held at the Yountville Veterans Home in Napa, California
It is a tragic ending to a day-long standoff with police that saw more than 30 shots fired at officials and a nearly eight-hour lockdown at the facility
Authorities said the gunman was armed and wearing a bulletproof vest when he slipped into the facility, which is the largest veterans home in the US
Yountville Mayor John Dunbar said that the employees will be remembered as beautiful people, calling the gunman ‘one of our heroes who clearly had demons’ and lamenting the Pathway Home shooting as a ‘terrible tragedy’.
He said the three women killed ‘lived their lives selflessly to serve others’ and that the home will continue to operate.
Locals hail Christine Loeber who was the executive director of the Pathway home – a treatment program for Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans – as an intelligent, delightful, outgoing and charming person.
They said she deeply cared for people suffering from PTSD.
Veteran Muriel Zimmer, 84, was on the scene of the Pathway Home today and said she sympathized Wong. She said she ‘cannot blame him. It’s because of the war.’
At 6am on Saturday President Donald Trump tweeted that he is ‘deeply saddened’ by the shooting and mourns ‘the loss of three incredible women who cared for our Veterans.’
Investigators are yet to determine a motive.
Wong raided the Pathway Home while employees inside were throwing a going-away party for some employees. He took the women hostage and let the others go.
The hold-up took about 10 hours before he killed the three women.
Wong, who was wearing a bullet proof vest, then killed himself.