YOUNTVILLE: Three women and a gunman who held them hostage at a California veterans home were found dead late on Friday, bringing a tragic end to an all-day standoff with police at the sprawling facility, authorities said. A state senator whose district includes the area, Bill Dodd, earlier told reporters that the gunman was a member of Pathway Home, a program for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and that the hostages were believed to be employees of the facility. The siege came less than a month after a former student with an assault-style rifle killed 17 people at a Florida high school. That massacre touched off a student-led drive for new restrictions on gun sales to curb mass shootings that have occurred with frightening frequency in the United States over the past few years. The Veterans Home of California, which houses about 1,000 disabled and aging military veterans, is the largest facility of its kind in the United States.

Source: New Strait Times March 10, 2018 04:41 UTC