Pathway Home’s future in question
Facility that treated troubled vets may not reopen in Yountville spot
The doors of the Pathway Home treatment facility in Yountville remained locked Sunday and may never reopen as directors of the program begin an exhaustive review of security protocols after a gunman held three caregivers hostage before killing them, a spokesman said.
The residents have been moved to other facilities while officials discuss the future of the program. And law enforcement continues to investigate what motivated a decorated Army veteran to commit such a senseless tragedy.
“We don’t know whether that building is going to be a place that people want to live in, want to work in, after what happened Friday,” said organization spokesman Larry Kam-
er. “It’s not like people can just forget what happened there, move on, and work and have their group sessions. It’s got bullet holes in it.”
A board member who is also a psychiatrist took the lead on coordinating care for the six Pathway residents who are now staying at hotels throughout Napa County, Kamer said.
“That’s a little more challenging to do when they are not all living in the same dorm, as they were at the Veterans Home campus,” Kamer said.
As staff members scrambled to address the needs of the residents, the facility’s board members began scrutinizing security at the facility, emergency protocols and what kind of screenings are in place for incoming patients.
“All of that has to be on the table,” Kamer said. “Anytime you have a tragic incident like this, you go back and see what it was that you did and what it was that didn’t work, because obviously something like this should never have happened.”
Pathway is a treatment program run by a nonprofit that leases space on the sprawling campus of the state-run Veterans Home of California Yountville.
Roaming, unarmed 24-hour security personnel currently patrol the Veterans Home campus. The Pathway facility also has surveillance cameras at the front door and in the hallways, as well as a sign-in desk where people are required to stop before entering the premises, Kamer said.
“Law enforcement is trying to figure out exactly how (the gunman) was able to get around that,” he said. “He did live in that facility for almost a year, so he was knowledgeable about the place. Exactly what failed is something I know law enforcement is interested in and we are very interested in as well.”
The security review comes after 36-year-old Albert Wong of Sacramento, armed with a rifle, burst into a morning gathering at the center on Friday and took five hostages after exchanging gunfire with a Napa County sheriff ’s deputy, authorities said.
He later released two hostages. When law officers entered the room where Wong had been holed up for nearly eight hours, they found him and the three remaining hostages dead. A knowledgeable source said all four had been shot.
The California Highway Patrol declined Sunday to release additional details surrounding the shooting.
The victims were the Pathway Home’s executive director, Christine Loeber, 48, of Napa; Jennifer Golick, 42, of St. Helena, a clinical director with the center; and Jennifer Gonzales, 32, who was six months pregnant, according to the Napa County Sheriff ’s Office. Gonzales was a clinical psychologist with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Wong had been treated at Pathway, but had been asked to leave a few days prior to the incident for unknown reasons, said state Sen. Bill Dodd, DNapa, whose district includes the center.
A friend of Golick’s family, who asked that his name not be used, said, “People were notified that he was violent. Nothing was done. All the proper people were notified ... the sheriff ’s department, the vets’ health. Everybody knew. All the flags were there.”
Tensions were heightened Sunday as agencies re-evaluated the need for armed guards at veterans facilities throughout the state.
The California Statewide Law Enforcement Association, which represents security personnel, issued a statement Friday expressing anger and frustration that the Veterans Home guards are unarmed.
“To date, administrators have been willing to risk public safety rather than provide trained law enforcement officers with firearms,” the statement read.
Veterans Home is run by the state Department of Veterans Affairs. June Iljana, a spokeswoman for the department, said nothing like this has ever happened at the various veterans centers in California.
“It would be inappropriate to speculate until the investigation concludes and all the facts are known,” Iljana said of the Law Enforcement Association’s recommendation to arm guards.
Though some who live at the Veterans Home continued to feel uneasy Sunday, resident Richard Dolph, 58, said he felt secure at his home.
“It’s just a safe place for (veterans) to live,” Dolph said. “That is what this place is about.”
Operations were expected to resume as usual across the broader Veterans Home campus, which is inhabited by about 850 older and disabled veterans and their spouses, with the only exception being the addition of crisis counselors for residents and staff members, Iljana said.
That’s not the case for Pathway Home.
In addition to security, officials discussed whether to relocate the program that has offered treatment for 450 people since its opening in 2008, mostly for PTSD, mild traumatic brain injury and other post-deployment mental health challenges.
“This program has to continue,” Kamer said. “The need is certainly there, and if anything, Friday’s incident should put an exclamation point on how important it is for these kinds of services to reach our vets.”
The program offers access to mental and physical health services, community college, job training and employment — all of which have been invaluable to veterans, Kamer said.
It’s unclear whether the program will continue in Napa County. The outpouring of support from the community makes it hard to consider leaving, he added.
For now, the fate of Pathway is in limbo as the center remains a crime scene, with caution tape still quarantining the building.
Residents and passersby stopped Sunday at the growing memorial near the facility, leaving behind purple and white flowers near a wooden sign that read Pathway Home.
Some veterans stopped momentarily before walking past the crime scene toward the food hall.
Larry Finkel, 66, paused at the memorial after visiting with his father, who lives at the home. He took his hat off and stood silently, staring at the flickering candles. A few moments later, he stood at attention, saluted and then quietly walked back to his car.
“I had to pay my respect for not only the women, but for the guy as well,” he said, referring to the three female victims and the gunman. Some veterans “just got so many demons inside of them . ... It’s just a tragedy.”