A 59-year-old man in the midst of divorce proceedings with his wife, reached a Southern California bar where his wife was dining and shot her before opening fire at random, killing three people and injuring six other, CNN reported citing Orange County officials.
The gunman was later killed by law enforcement.
Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Don Barnes said that John Snowling entered the Cook's Corner bar in Orange County with two firearms. Before shooting his soon-to-be ex-wife and another woman she was dining with, Snowling and the two women had no altercation.
He said that the wife's dining companion died on the spot and that the wife had been taken to the hospital.
Barnes also said that after opening fire inside the bar, Snowling fled to a back parking lot area and started to gather two more weapons. The sheriff claims that at that point, a guy confronted Snowling and was subsequently shot by the shooter.
The sheriff’s deputies, who arrived minutes after the shooting spree, were also shot at by Snowling, the deputies then retaliated and killed Snowling, Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Don Barnes added.
“It’s an absolute tragic event and something that I know is probably weighing very heavy on the entire Trabuco Canyon community,” Orange County Undersheriff Jeff Hallock said. “Cook’s Corner, it’s a staple here,” as reported by CNN.
In 2023 so far, the US has witnessed as many as 465 mass shooting incidents, the Gun Violence Archive reports.
67-year-old John Leehey was one of the three victims killed, according to the sheriff.
Barnes said that six individuals, including the shooter's wife, were injured in the shooting spree. Tetsuya Takeuchi, the trauma medical director at Providence Mission Hospital, said that all of the injured were shifted there and were in stable condition, despite the fact that two of them were in serious condition. He added that one individual has subsequently been discharged. The hospital previously stated that a an who was shot in the chest and a lady who was wounded in the jaw were both gravely injured.
As of Thursday, Snowling's wife was awake and conscious, according to Takeuchi, who also mentioned that one of her two children was present at the hospital.
The Ventura Police Department announced in a statement that the shooter had served there for 28 years before retiring almost ten years ago, CNN reported.
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