Veterans home shooting victim was 7 months pregnant
YOUNTVILLE (KRON) – One of the three women taken hostage and killed Friday at the veterans home in Yountville was seven months pregnant, according to a GoFundMe page created by a close friend.
An employee at the Veterans Home of California Yountville also told 24-Hour News 8’s sister station KRON4 that 29-year-old Jennifer Gonzalez was pregnant.
Friends and co-workers remembered Gonzales as a “brilliant” psychologist who was committed to both her family and her job treating veterans with post-traumatic stress.
Gonzales was seven months pregnant. She was married a year ago and was supposed to travel to Washington, D.C., with her husband this weekend to celebrate their anniversary, family friend Vasiti Ritova said.
Ritova, whose niece cares for Gonzales’ grandmother, said she would spend time caring for her grandmother and would visit her every other week. She said the loss was “devastating.”
“She was always singing to her grandma, giving her baths. She was always coming to look after her grandma – so that is how we come to know this sweet lady,” she said.
Full statement from GoFundMe:
Dr. Jenn (Gonzales) Shushereba was at the prime of her life, married one year and pregnant with her first child, when her life and that of her unborn child were tragically taken in the Yountville Veterans Home shooting on March 9. As a young psychiatrist, Jenn dedicated her life to helping service men and women reintegrate and readjust to civilian life. Every aspect of Jenn’s life was dedicated to others and her caring and kind spirit was evident to everyone she met. Jenn leaves behind her best friend, husband, and father of her unborn child, TJ. This memorial fund is set up by TJ and Jenn’s friends and all donations will go directly to TJ to help with memorial costs and adjusting to life without Jenn.
Marjorie Morrison, who founded the nonprofit group PsychArmor, said in addition to working with vets with PTSD, Gonzales also focused helping college campuses successfully reintegrate veterans when they return to school.
Gonzales partnered with PsychArmor to create the VA Campus Toolkit, which PsychArmor put online. Many colleges use it, she said.
“She was brilliant for being so young,” Morrison said. “Absolutely brilliant.” She added that PscyhArmor partners take on these projects without pay, which “says a lot about someone’s character.”