Gunman Albert Wong who killed three women hostages at California veterans home was decorated US Army soldier treated for PTSD

Albert Wong had been a patient of Pathway Home, a programme at the Yountville complex for former service members suffering post-traumatic stress disorder after deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan

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Albert Wong pictured in one of his Facebook photos. Wong, a former US Army soldier deployed to Afghanistan killed three people at a veteran’s facility in California. File photo: Facebook

Published: 11:01am, 11 Mar 2018Updated: 9:46pm, 11 Mar 2018

Authorities were trying to sort out the motive of a former US Army solider once deployed to Afghanistan who killed three people at a veterans home in Napa County, California, where he once stayed.

The Napa County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office identified the gunman as Albert Wong, 36, of Sacramento, a former resident at the Pathway Home, a residential programme within the Yountville Veterans Home. He was found dead next to the bodies of three employees Friday afternoon.

Authorities identified the victims as the home’s executive director, Christine Loeber, 48; therapist Jen Golick, 42; and Jennifer Gonzales, 29, a psychologist with the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.

Golick’s father-in-law, Bob Golick, said that Wong had been expelled from the programme.

Officials said the victims of the shooting brought a “unique sense of purpose and humanity to their jobs”.

California state Senator Bill Dodd said that Wong had post-traumatic stress disorder from his service in the Middle East.

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