Autopsy results released for victims in Yountville veterans home shooting
YOUNTVILLE » Three women taken hostage and killed in a shooting at the Yountville veterans home last Friday died from rifle shots to the head, according to the Napa County Sheriff’s Office.
Dr. Jennifer Gonzales Shushereba’s unborn baby — she was seven months pregnant — died due to a lack of oxygenated blood caused by her mother’s death, according to the autopsy results. Shooter Al- bert Wong, 36, died from one self- inf licted fatal wound to his head from his shotgun, the sheriff’s department said.
Wong, a former patient at Pathway Home, burst into a party for an employee at the nonprofit agency last Friday and took three female employees hostage, before shooting them and himself.
The autopsies and forensic investigations into Shushereba, Christine Loeber and Dr. Jennifer Golick revealed they all “suffered immediately fatal head wounds caused by a high velocity projectile consistent with the rifle that the shooter, Albert Wong, used in this incident.”
The autopsy found Wong had a single self-inflicted wound to his head from a shotgun, “consistent with the shotgun he had with him at the time of the incident.”
There was no evidence that any of the injuries to the women were caused by anyone other than Wong. Law enforcement engaged Wong in a brief gunfight before he holed up inside a room at the sprawling Yountville campus. It’s unclear if Wong was hit during that exchange of gunfire.
Despite hopeful statements that the program would remain open, the board of directors has since announced that operations would be suspended, and the services needed by veterans in the program would be provided by other federal and local agencies, The Associated Press reported Thursday.