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U.S. NEWS Monday 12 March 2018
Shooter had sought healing from California vets center

By MICHAEL BALSAMO playing hockey and go- “He loved computers and said, seeing the program
Associated Press ing fishing with Wong when he liked music. He was as a possible path to recov-
When Albert Wong re- they were kids. They also thoughtful and indepen- ery with other veterans in a
turned from an Army de- got into fights. Wong’s dent,” Sherr said. “He didn’t similar position.
ployment in Afghanistan outbursts at times forced have a traditional upbring- Officials have declined to
in 2013, he knew it had af-
fected him. He had trouble
adjusting to regular life,
couldn’t sleep at night and
was hyper-vigilant about
his surroundings.
But when he found a treat-
ment program for veterans
of the Iraq and Afghanistan
wars who suffer from post-
traumatic stress or trau-
matic brain injuries, he saw
it as a way to get help and
readjust to civilian life, said
Cissy Sherr, who was his le-
gal guardian and raised
him for several years as a
child. Until he was recently
expelled.
On Friday, police said
Wong slipped into a go-
ing-away party at the pro-
gram, The Pathway Home, Resident Tom Parkinson places flowers on a sign at the Veterans Home of California, the morning
and took three employees after a hostage situation in Yountville, Calif., on Saturday, March 10, 2018. A daylong siege at The
hostage. After an hours- Pathway Home ended Friday evening with the discovery of four bodies, including the gunman,
long standoff, Wong and identified as Albert Wong, a former Army rifleman who served a year in Afghanistan in 2011-2012.
(AP Photo/Josh Edelson)
the three female workers,
one of whom was preg- him to live elsewhere for ing but still he became a provide additional informa-
nant, were all found dead. stints, including the time fine young man.” tion about why Wong was
As a child, Wong had al- as a teenager he pushed Wong, who had a passion thrown out of the group.
ways dreamed of joining another brother down for working out at the gym, But they say the former
the Army, said Sherr, who the stairs, breaking his leg, would often bring his ailing Army rifleman went to the
began caring for him when Lampkin told the Santa mother her favorite foods center about 50 miles (85
he was 6 after his father Rosa Press-Democrat in a and spent a lot of time with kilometers) north of San
died and his mother devel- story published Sunday. her before she died last Francisco Friday morning
oped medical issues. Wong served in the Army year, Sherr said. before exchanging gunfire
“He had a lot of role mod- Reserve from 1998 until But post-traumatic stress af- with police and holding the
els in the Army,” Sherr said 2002, enlisted for active fected his ability to adjust women hostage in a room
Saturday in an interview duty in May 2010 and was to everyday life, Sherr said. inside the center.
with The Associated Press. deployed to Afghanistan He had trouble sleeping “Albert was a good per-
“He was patriotic and he in April 2011, according to and was always wary of his son, he really was a good
wanted to do that forever.” military records. surroundings. person,” said Lampkin, who
Sherr and her husband He was a decorated soldier “I think he realized that it kept in touch with Wong
raised Wong for several and was awarded the Ex- started to catch up with by phone but hadn’t seen
years, enrolled him in Cath- pert Marksmanship Badge. him,” she said. “A couple him for years. “I heard he
olic school and signed him But that also meant Wong of years ago, he told us if a stopped taking his meds
up for baseball, basketball was tasked with danger- door opens unexpectedly, and started drinking a lot ...
and track teams. Together, ous assignments, where he I ask, ‘What is that?’” He never told me, he never
they traveled to Florida, saw “really horrible things” Lampkin said Wong was told me.”
Hawaii and Boston, where that affected his mental never the same after get- The victims were identified
he experienced snow for well-being, Sherr said. He ting out of the military, of- as Executive Director Chris-
the first time. sometimes called her be- ten becoming fixated on tine Loeber, 48; Clinical
“He was a pretty happy- fore he’d go on a mission, petty grievances such as Director Jennifer Golick,
go-lucky kid,” Sherr said. when Army officials told the people owing him money 42; and Jennifer Gonzales
“He always had a smile on soldiers to call their families. or not pulling their weight. Shushereba, 32, a clinical
his face.” “I had the impression he Wong told Sherr he had psychologist with the San
When Wong became a was kind of put in harm’s found a program at the Francisco Department of
teenager and Sherr and way, knowing that he veterans home in Yount- Veterans Affairs Healthcare
her husband worked full- didn’t have a family,” she ville, California, and had System who was also seven
time, they decided to said. “He didn’t seem the met people who helped months pregnant.
put him in foster care. He least bit resentful.” him enroll in a treatment After the shooting, John
stayed with a foster father Sherr said after Wong was program. He was also re- Dunbar, the mayor of
in San Francisco who had honorably discharged ceiving assistance at a vet- Yountville and a member
other teenage boys and from the Army in 2013, he erans hospital in San Fran- of The Pathway Home’s
he attended high school planned to enroll in school cisco, she said. board of directors, said
near San Francisco. and earn a degree in com- He told Sherr: “I think I’m Wong was “one of our
An older adopted brother, puter programming and going to get a lot of help heroes who clearly had
Tyrone Lampkin, recalled business. from this program,” she demons.”q