YOUNTVILLE, Calif. — A gunman slipped into an employee going-away party at the largest veterans home in the United States and took three people hostage Friday in a standoff that has kept the sprawling California grounds locked down for hours, authorities and family members said.
Officials confirmed late Friday night that the gunman and three hostages were all dead. Earlier in the day, officials said they knew who the gunman was but didn't reveal his identity or know the motive for the attack at the state-run Veterans Home of California-Yountville, in one of Napa Valley's most upscale towns in the heart of wine country.
A sheriff's deputy responding to an emergency call got into a shootout with the gunman, but the officer was not injured.
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"We are approaching this as an active-shooter situation," Napa County Sheriff John Robertson told reporters at a news conference. "There was an exchange of gunfire by both our deputy and the suspect. There were many bullets fired."