The gunman who killed three women at a Northern California veterans center had been kicked out of a therapy program for soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The suspect identified as Afghanistan veteran Albert Wong was found dead Friday evening by Napa Valley sheriff's deputies at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville.

Wong slipped into a going-away party for some employees of The Pathway Home, a nonprofit post-traumatic stress disorder program. He took some people hostage and let others go.

Authorities say he traded gunshots with a deputy early on and then nothing more was heard until his body was found along with those of the home's executive director, clinical director and a psychologist.

A relative of one victim says Wong recently was kicked out of the program.