March 12 (UPI) -- The future of Pathway Home, the Yountville, Calif., treatment facility where a former patient killed three hostages, is in doubt, a spokesman said.
Pathway Home, a nonprofit that leases space on the campus of the largest veterans home in the U.S., has been closed since the rampage on Friday. Authorities say Albert Wong, a decorated former serviceman, killed Pathway executive director, Christine Loeber, program therapist Dr. Jen Golick and Jennifer Gonzales, a psychologist with the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs.
Wong was found dead after a brief shootout with a sheriff's deputy. Larry Kamer, a Pathway spokesman, told the San Francisco Chronicle the directors of the program, which treats veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars with mental trauma, are reviewing security protocols and added that the facility may never reopen.
"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," Kamer said.
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There are Pathway Homes across the country. The residential program housed at the larger, state-run veterans home provides free educational, professional and clinical support to veterans seeking to return to school or pursue vocational training. It receives no direct funding from the government, but partners with the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center in having a staff psychologist on site, the Santa Rosa, Calif., Press-Democrat reported.
The six residents at Pathway House were moved to local hotels after the shootings, and authorities are investigating how Wong evaded a sign-in desk equipped with security cameras.
"Law enforcement is trying to figure out exactly how [the gunman] was able to get around that," Kamer 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."
U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, a Vietnam War veteran, said the Pathway House has had a good reputation for care.
"Everybody just is incredibly devoted," Thompson said. "All they want to do is help veterans and that's all they were trying to do, and this is what happened."
