A retired police sergeant opened fire at a popular biker bar in Southern California Wednesday evening, killing at least three people and wounding at least six others before he was killed in a confrontation with sheriff’s deputies, the authorities said.
The shooting occurred at about 7 p.m. at Cook’s Corner, a bar in Trabuco Canyon, a rural community in eastern Orange County, Jeff Hallock, undersheriff at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, said. The Orange County district attorney’s office identified the gunman on Thursday as John Snowling, 59, who had worked for the Police Department in Ventura, Calif.
Mr. Snowling retired in 2014 and moved to Ohio, Sheriff Don Barnes of Orange County said at a news conference on Thursday afternoon. He appeared to have returned to Southern California, where he had a second home, during “an ongoing dispute” regarding the pending divorce with his wife, Sheriff Barnes said. Law enforcement believed Mr. Snowling was armed with two firearms when he entered the bar, Sheriff Barnes added.
Mr. Snowling approached his wife, who was sitting with another woman at the bar, and without a word drew his gun and fired, striking both his wife and the other woman at least once, Sheriff Barnes said. The other woman eventually died of her injuries, he said. He did not elaborate on the nature of the wife’s injuries but said that he had heard she was “conscious and speaking.”
After shooting the two women, Mr. Snowling randomly opened fire on patrons in the bar before returning to his truck in the parking lot, where he had more weapons, Sheriff Barnes said.
Deputies found Mr. Snowling in the parking lot, and he began firing at them, the sheriff said, adding that the deputies returned fire, ultimately killing Mr. Snowling.
One of the three people who were killed had tried to confront Mr. Snowling in the parking lot and was shot, Sheriff Barnes said.
Mr. Snowling had four weapons with him, including two pistols, a revolver and a shotgun, Sheriff Barnes said. All of the weapons, he added, had been obtained legally by Mr. Snowling, who did not appear to have a criminal history.
The wounded were taken to Providence Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, Calif. Two of the patients were in critical condition, the hospital said, including a man shot in the chest and a woman shot in the jaw. The woman was transferred to the University of California, Irvine Medical Center in Orange. Four other patients were in stable condition, including one who was released Wednesday night, the hospital said.
Undersheriff Hallock said that the shooting erupted in front of as many as 40 people who had gathered for a rock music show and spaghetti night. He called the episode “an absolute tragic event.”
He added that law enforcement officers responded within minutes of receiving multiple 911 calls of shots being fired.
The wood-paneled bar has, since the 1970s, been a popular stop for motorcyclists driving through the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains. Its clientele has included gang affiliates, retirees and law enforcement officers. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former California governor, has been a patron, and he held a reception at Cook’s Corner in 2006, arriving on a motorcycle.
The bar, which sits on 12 acres of land, has also hosted weddings, charity events and funeral services.
In 2008, as fire raged in nearby canyons, the bar served as a home base for weary firefighters. For about 10 days, they took over the building, packing it with their gear and clothes, holding meetings and eating meals. Outside, they slept on the ground or surrounding picnic tables.
“When the canyon was lit up, the firefighters came into work, and they were laying on the benches and everything out here, so we kind of just opened it up,” Rhonda Palmeri, the bar’s manager, said in a recent interview.
Wednesday was the bar’s regular spaghetti night, featuring pasta, salad and garlic bread. An Orange County rock band, M Street, had been scheduled to take the stage right after happy hour and posted a video of the stage — keyboard, drums, electric guitar — earlier in the evening.
In May 2022, a gunman at a church about 14 miles away in Laguna Woods, Calif., killed one person and wounded five others before parishioners subdued him.
On Thursday, California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, urged residents to make use of the state’s “red flag” laws, which allow people who survived domestic violence and others to seek protective orders prohibiting abusers from possessing guns.
Early reports suggested the shooting was “related to a domestic dispute,” Mr. Newsom said in a statement, noting that two-thirds of mass shooters in America have a history of domestic violence. “Once again, a siege of bullets has shaken a community and torn families apart.”
Todd Spitzer, the district attorney for Orange County, said at the news conference on Thursday that the deputies had recovered at least 75 shell casings from the crime scene.
“Orange County is a place that loves its law enforcement,” he said. “Let last night be a lesson to everybody else in America who has been tearing down law enforcement to understand this is exactly why we need them.”
Corina Knoll and Andrés R. Martínez contributed reporting.