Four people are dead after a retired police officer opened fire in a popular California biker bar.

The gunman shot dead three people and left six others with gunshot wounds before he was shot and killed by police.

Officials have identified the gunman as 59-year-old John Snowling. They say his estranged wife, Marie Snowling, was injured in the shooting. She had filed for divorce and her father told a newspaper that John Snowling could not “deal with the divorce”.

The cover band at the historic Southern California biker bar had just launched into their next song when the gunman walked in and opened fire.

Some froze, others ran as the bullets flew inside busy Cook’s Corner, which was holding its weekly spaghetti night on Wednesday.

The gunman then went outside and kept firing, witnesses said. Within minutes, officers arrived and killed the gunman, Orange County Sheriff’s Sergeant Frank Gonzalez said.

Three people were pronounced dead at the scene; six others were shot and taken to a hospital, officials said.

M Street band keyboardist Mark Johnson hid behind a speaker with his wife, singer Debbie Johnson.

“Once he started shooting, it was very indiscriminate,” Mark Johnson said. “He just is firing indiscriminately.”

Betty Fruichantie told NBC4 Los Angeles that she was with the gunman’s estranged wife, Marie Snowling, who fell to the floor. With bullets flying past her face, Ms Fruichantie ran and hid in a toilet with others.

“And when we came out, people were on the floor and people were like over people trying to help them, just holding their wounds,” she said.

Marie Snowling’s father, William Mosby, of Lake Forest, told The Orange County Register that his daughter was taken to a hospital after being shot. Mr Mosby said he initially heard his daughter had been killed.

“I’m extremely relieved,” Mr Mosby said. “What I heard was the worst.”

Providence Mission Hospital, in nearby Mission Viejo, said it treated six people who were shot. A woman shot in the jaw and a man shot in the chest were in critical condition, the hospital said in a statement. The four others were in stable condition.

Marie Snowling filed for divorce from John Snowling in December 2022, Ventura County online court records show. The case was scheduled for a mandatory settlement conference in November.

Mr Mosby told the newspaper that John Snowling could not “deal with the divorce”.

Source Breaking News

BDST: 1251 HRS, AUGUST 25, 2023
MSK