Weapons used in Yountville shooting bought legally according to report released by authorities

ByKate Larsen KGO logo
Friday, November 30, 2018
Weapons used in Yountville shooting bought legally according to report released by authorities
We are learning new details about the gunman who executed three people in a Yountville Veterans Home earlier this year.

NAPA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- We are learning new details about the gunman who executed three people in a Yountville Veterans Home earlier this year. In response to a public records request, The California Highway Patrol released a heavily redacted report to ABC7 Thursday evening.

VIDEO: Timeline of events released for shooting at Yountville veterans home

The report reveals that in the hours before he shot three women and then himself, Albert Wong, spent time searching the internet for articles and video about overcoming the fear of death and suicide. At 4:52 a.m., about five hours before Albert Wong walked into the Yountville Veterans Home, investigators say he looked up a Washington Post article about the San Bernardino Terrorist attacks.

That morning, Wong also looked up articles with titles like Murder-Suicide: When killing yourself is not enough. And then, thirty minutes before he drove from his home in Sacramento to Yountville, he began looking at videos of suicides.

The California Highway Patrol redacted almost half the pages, but the 94 page report does contain new details about what Wong was thinking and doing before he shot the three clinicians, one of whom was pregnant, at a PTSD clinic for veterans.

TAKE ACTION: Help for veterans of all eras and their families

Wong was kicked out of the Pathway Home program, the month before the shooting. According to the report, six law enforcement agencies, 114 investigators and 23 witnesses were involved in the response and subsequent investigation.

The report details how Wong, a 36-year-old Army combat veteran, bought both guns used in the murders, weeks before the March 9th attack.

He bought the shotgun from Sweeny's Sports in Napa on February 14th, the day of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He also bought a rifle from Coyote Point 26 Armory in Burlingame. The rifle was purchased legally, but the report says an officer discovered modifications to the gun, that make it an illegal assault weapon in California.

The report also says Wong was able to enter the building the morning of the shooting, through a metal door leading into the basement, which he propped open the night before.

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Investigators do not know how he gained entry into the building the night before, whether the door was already propped open or if a staff member or resident let Wong inside.

You can read the full report here. WARNING: The report contains graphic information.

Take a look at the latest stories and videos about the deadly shooting at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville here.