Yountville gunman described as soft-spoken, rule-abiding

Albert Wong, 36, was described by his former legal guardian as a law-abiding and soft-spoken person who moved around to different Bay Ares homes as a child. KTVU spoke with Cissy Sherr at her Millbrae home Monday. She says she had known Wong since he was six-years-old when his father would bring him to her home to eat dinner. 

“That’s just our culture. We just feed everybody,” she said. “The dad got sick and just said take care of my son.”

Sherr and her husband became his legal guardians when Wong’s father died and his mother became gravely ill. She said he went to St. Robert Elementary School in San Bruno and a high school in Daly City. 

“He was calm, soft-spoken. I don’t know if he ever got a parking ticket. He was a law-abiding guy who followed the rules. Neat and tidy and always said thank you,” she said.

On Friday, the Army veteran is accused of holding three women hostage at Pathway Home veterans treatment facility in Yountville, California. He and the hostages were found dead after a day-long standoff. Wong had been a patient there and discharged weeks prior after employees reportedly found him with knives. 

KTVU learned Wong had retired from the Army, returning from Afghanistan in 2013. He also spent time in Hawaii. Sherr said Wong had PTSD and shared more than war stories with her.

“What happened to him, the horror stories. Stories that you hear about in movies,” Sherr said. 

According to Sherr, Wong had been seeking help for his PTSD for years. Since his return from Afghanistan, he’d sought veteran services in San Francisco, Santa Rosa and Napa County. He enrolled in school as well but was frustrated when federal funding would run out, she said.

“He was doing everything he could!” she said. 

On Monday, the Napa County Sheriff’s Department said it received no reports that the combat veteran showed troubling signs of violence before the deadly hostage situation.