Breaking: Active shooter takes hostages at veterans home in California

A gunman has taken hostages at a Northern California veterans home.

The first reports of an active shooter were reported around 10:30 a.m. (local time) at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville, said June Iljana, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Veterans Affairs.

California fire officials told the Associated Press, the armed man has taken three hostages at veterans home.   California Highway Patrol confirmed the gunman has hostages but would not say how many.

The guman is reportedly wearing body armor and “stormed the building with an automatic weapon,” according to ABC.

CHP is working with the Napa County Sheriff’s Office to establish a secure perimeter and clear buildings in in the area, according to Officer John Fransen, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.

The 133-year-old veterans home sits across the street from the Napa Valley Museum in Yountville. It is the largest veterans home in the United States with about 1,000 male and female disabled and elderly veterans from World War II and the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq live at the home.

As many as 850 people lived in the home as of last year, according to News-Times.

@chp chopper lands on driving range of evacuated golf course near Yountville Veterans Home. Active shooter situation continues. Reports of hostages. #abc7now pic.twitter.com/vWBMXjBZcB

— Wayne Freedman (@WayneFreedman) March 9, 2018