SAN FRANCISCO, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Three female hostages and a suspected gunman were found dead after police entered a veterans home in the U.S. state of California, said local police late Friday.

More than a dozen troops were deployed at Veterans Home of California in Yountville Friday morning, local media reported.

The 36-year-old gunman, who dressed in black armor and was armed with an automatic weapon, broke into the veterans home and took three women hostage.

The hostages were employees of the Pathway Home, a privately-run program on the grounds of the veterans home, which treats U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with post-traumatic stress disorder, said California Highway Patrol officer Chris Childs at an earlier press conference.

The gunman, whose identity has been known to the police but not released, was believed to be a member of Pathway Home, local TV outlet KRON4 reported.