YOUNTVILLE, Calif. (AP) – 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 shootout and standoff that has kept the sprawling California grounds locked down for hours, authorities and family members said.
Officials said the conditions of the hostages were not known and they had not been able to reach the gunman by phone after trying for several hours. Authorities said they know who the gunman is 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 shortly after 10 a.m. got into a shootout with the gunman, but the officer was not injured.
“We are approaching this as an active-shooter situation,” Napa County Sheriff John Robertson told reporters. “There was an exchange of gunfire by both our deputy and the suspect. There were many bullets fired.”
Larry Kamer told The Associated Press that his wife, Devereaux Smith, was at a morning staff party and told him by phone that the gunman had entered the room quietly, letting some people leave while taking others hostage.