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.

It appeared that the gunman killed himself, law enforcement officials said, adding that the names of the dead could not be released by the Coroner's office of Napa County, about 85 km north of San Francisco in the western U.S. state of California.

"This is a tragic piece of news, one that we were really hoping we would not have to come before the public to give," said California Highway Patrol (CHP) Assistant Chief Chris Childs.

The bodies of the four were discovered nearly eight hours after the gunman entered the Veterans Home of California, Yountville, which housed the Pathway Home, a nonprofit organization running a program that treats U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The three females were employees of the Pathway Home, who were taken hostage shortly after the 36-year-old gunman, who dressed in black armor and was armed with an automatic weapon, broke into the veterans home Friday morning.

Local TV outlet KRON4 reported that the gunman is believed to be a member of Pathway Home.