A large Yountville, California veterans home is on lockdown after a gunman took at least three people hostage, Napa County Fire Capt. Chase Beckman said.
Police have responded to the Veterans Home of California in Yountville Friday morning. The Napa County Sheriff’s office has told nearby residents to avoid the area and the Associated Press reports that an armed man has taken three hostages.
Videos by PopCulture.com
NAPA CO SHERIFF: Police activity at the Veterans Home in Yountville. Please avoid the area. No action required. https://t.co/DAGVsOILnV
— County of Napa (@CountyofNapa) March 9, 2018
Officer John Fransen with the California Highway Patrol confirmed the active shooter to The Huffington Post and said the agency is dealing with a hostage situation.
The Napa Valley Register reported that the suspect is believed to have been a member of The Pathway Home program for military veterans with emotional trauma. He was reported holed up in Pathway’s Madison Building on the Veterans Home grounds.
The Register also reported a man wearing body armor and armed with an automatic weapon entered the home.
A fire captain says a gunman has taken hostages at a large veterans home in California. Police closed access to the home after a man with a gun was reported on the grounds. https://t.co/qkw9BNeujQ
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 9, 2018
A spokesman from Veterans Home told The Huffington Post that “potentially” 30 shots have been fired.
Veteran residents and staff are sheltering in place, a spokesperson for the California Department of Veterans Affairs told CBS News.
A witness told CBS San Francisco dozens of emergency vehicles were racing along Highway 29 toward the veterans home, including at least four ambulances.
The facility is built on roughly 600 acres, making it the largest veterans home in the U.S., spokesman Joshua Kisser said. It is home to approximately 1,000 retired service members.
Ground and air ambulances were being staged near the Veterans Home as a precaution, police said. Police have cleared out the nearby Vintners Golf Club, which is open to the public.
Veterans of World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Desert Storm, and Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom now live at the home, according to the website.
The grounds are also home to a 1,200-seat theater, a 9-hole golf course, a baseball stadium, bowling lanes, a swimming pool, and a military Base Exchange branch store.
Yountville is in Napa Valley, the heart of Northern California’s wine country.
This story is developing…
