All too often when people hear the term “active shooter,” they think only of school attacks such as Columbine and Virginia Tech. At some point, because the attack at Columbine brought active shooter events into the eye of the public via the mainstream media, “active shooter” came to viewed as predominantly happening on campuses... at any grade level. People seem to forget that active shooter attacks have occurred in work places, post offices (where do you think the term “going postal” came from?), malls, places of worship and a lot more. In this case, on March 9, 2018, the attack occurred in the Veterans’ Home in Yountville, California.
On that date, at The Pathway Home - which housed a treatment program focusing on veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who were challenged with PTSD - one of the former patients entered the home and began his attacks. Reports potentially conflict in that one says he was armed with a semi-automatic weapon while another says he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Yes, there are semi-automatic shotguns, but they aren’t super common and the instances of them being used in active shooter attacks is so rare that this author can’t recall having heard of one previous to this.
The perpetrator was later identified as 36-year-old Albert Wong. Wong was an Army veteran who had served in Afghanistan and who had previously been treated at the home for PTSD symptoms. Just prior to 10:20a.m. that morning, Wong entered the Home to begin his attack. It’s reported that he initially released many veterans who were there and some of the staff members of the home. His only victims appeared to be targeted for their level of responsibility: a psychologist (who was approximately six months pregnant at the time of her death, so the unborn child is also included in the list of victims), the clinical director of the home and the executive director of the home.
Investigation revealed that Wong had previously complained about the Home, expressing his anger that they had expelled him after he had lived there for almost a year during his treatment. The reason he was ejected from the facility was reportedly due to the staff’s concerns over his anger management challenges and his possession of knives. It’s unclear if the facility didn’t allow possession of such or if the concern was specific to Wong due to his symptoms and apparent propensity toward violent action. Wong is reported to have expressed his desire for revenge on the staff members to at least one member of his family.
As with so many other attack perpetrators, Wong had been identified to several authorities about his violent tendencies. One report claims that notifications had been made to the local Sheriff’s office, the veteran’s health board in that area and the staff at the home. For all that, and apparently with no regard to any type of background investigation, Wong held a license as a security guard and a security trainer and he had a firearms permit via the Bureau of Security & Investigative Services. How does a man with his reported anger management and emotional challenge issues, having lived at an in-patient on-premise treatment facility for a year, get a firearms permit?
Within two minutes of the attack starting, law enforcement had been dispatched. The first deputies were on scene within eight minutes of being dispatched and at least some of them, from the Napa County Sheriff’s Department, exchanged gunfire with Wong who escaped the gunfight be retreating into the home. It is unclear if the three victims were killed before or after Wong’s exchange of gunfire with the responding officers, but nothing more was heard and there was no contact from Wong for approximately seven hours. At about six p.m., with no contact and no further intel, officers from the California Highway Patrol made entry and found Wong dead in the same room with his three victims.
While it might not have been possible to prevent this attack due to lack of probably cause for an arrest, there certainly seems to be sufficient cause to have had Wong involuntarily committed for further evaluation. Now, taking such action against any honorably discharged veteran facing challenges seems harsh and hard to think about as a preferred course of action, but in some cases it’s what is safest for the veteran himself. In this case, such an action taken at the appropriate time may well have saved five lives.
This incident is also a good example of how an active shooter event can change into a hostage barricade situation with little or no notice. After the exchange of gunfire and Wong’s retreat into the home, if no further shots were heard, or only the one of him killing himself, then an aggressive entry into the facility wasn’t called for. Such is a judgment call on the part of the responding officers. This is something that should be practiced by being built into scenario based training exercises.
Joshua Borelli
Joshua Borelli has been studying active shooter and mass attack events over the course of the past several years, commensurate with receiving training on response and recovery to natural disasters and civil disturbances. Joshua started to outline this series of articles in an attempt to identify commonalities and logistical needs patterns for response.
