Coroner: Yountville killer fatally shot himself, three health workers at Pathway Home

The gunman who executed three mental health workers at a Yountville veterans’ treatment center last week took his own life, according to autopsy results released Thursday by the Napa County coroner.

Former Army infantryman Albert Cheung Wong, 36, shot the three women in the head with a high-velocity rifle, the coroner’s office said in a news release. Wong then killed himself with a single shotgun round to the head.

Wong carried at least two guns - the rifle and the shotgun - on March 9 when he stormed into a party at the offices of The Pathway Home and took three members of its staff hostage, said Sgt. Robert Nacke of the California Highway Patrol’s Golden Gate Division, the lead agency on the investigation.

Nacke declined to provide further details, including the timeline of events on March 9; the make, model or caliber of the guns; or whether Wong had additional weapons during the attack.

“This investigation has some very sensitive aspects that investigators are still looking into,” said Nacke. “Unfortunately I don’t have more information to release on that at the moment.”

The deadly incident at the offices of The Pathway Home claimed the lives of Executive Director Christine Loeber, 48; Dr. Jennifer Golick, 42, a therapist with the program; and Dr. Jennifer Gonzales Shushereba, 32, a psychologist with the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. Gonzales Shushereba was more than six months pregnant. Her unborn child died because of a lack of oxygenated blood after Gonzales Shushereba was killed, the coroner’s statement noted.

Wong, whose Army service included a year in Afghanistan, had been treated at The Pathway Home for nearly a year before he was discharged from the program about two weeks before the shooting. He told a family member he was angry at the staff members and wanted to get back at them after he was found with knives and told to leave.

The women were killed shortly after 911 dispatchers received the first reports of a gunman at the live-in veterans’ treatment facility at 10:20 a.m. A Napa County sheriff’s deputy arrived within ?4 minutes and exchanged gunfire with the shooter.

Founded in 2008, The Pathway Home treated combat veterans returning from post-9/11 wars who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and other combat-related injuries. It leased offices on the grounds of the Veterans Home of California in Yountville.

Loeber, Golick and Gonzales Shushereba served as the “core clinical team” for the nonprofit program, which has been suspended indefinitely.

A memorial service for the victims will be held at 6 p.m. Monday at the Napa Valley Performing Arts Center, located on the grounds of the Yountville veterans home campus.

A benefit fund has been established by The Pathway Home to provide direct support to the victims’ families. Donations can be sent to 3 Brave Women Fund c/o Mentis, 709 Franklin St., Napa 94559.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin Fixler at 707-521-5336 or at kevin.fixler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @kfixler.