Biker Bar Mass Shooter Described As 'Crazy' Ex-Cop Targeting Wife

Find out what's happening in Rancho Santa Margaritawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Though it wasn’t immediately known how long Snowling had been in the area, or if he had been tracing his estranged wife’s movements, Barnes said it was clear that Snowling knew she was at Cook’s Corner Wednesday night.

RELATED: 5 Things To Know About Cook’s Corner Mass Shooting

Barnes said witnesses also reported that Snowling walked directly up to her around 7 p.m. and without any conversation or argument, shot her one time.

Barnes did not establish the nature of the woman’s injuries, but her father told reporters that she was shot in the jaw. She survived and is currently recovering at UCI Medical Center.

Barnes also said the woman was reported Thursday afternoon to be conscious and talking to her adult son, one of two adult children she shared with the gunman.

According to Barnes, Snowling also shot a woman who was dining with his wife, and she ultimately died outside the bar. Snowling also fatally shot 67-year-old Irvine resident John Leehey. Another man who tried to engage with the gunman and halt the shooting was fatally shot outside the bar, Barnes said.

Barnes said Snowling went to the bar with four weapons — three handguns and a shotgun. He initially armed himself with two of the handguns, and at some point retreated to his silver pickup in the bar parking lot and retrieved another handgun and the shotgun.

When sheriff’s deputies arrived, Snowling opened fire at them, prompting seven deputies to return fire, killing the suspect at the scene, Barnes said.

According to Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, the seven deputies fired at least 75 rounds at the suspect. Spitzer said his office will review the propriety of the law-enforcement shooting, but he hasn’t found any evidence to believe “in any way whatsoever that their acts were nothing less than heroic and that nothing they did last night indicates any criminal activity or excessive use of force in any way whatsoever.”

The shooting was reported at around 7 p.m. at Cook’s Corner in the 19100 block of Santiago Canyon Road in Trabuco Canyon, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

According to the investigators, the gunman was fatally shot by responding deputies within minutes of their arrival at the scene. The identities of the three slain victims has not been released by authorities.

According to the Orange County Register, Snowling’s estranged wife, Marie Snowling, was shot in the lower jaw. Friends and family of Marie told the newspaper that she was hospitalized at UCI Medical Center.

The newspaper reported that Marie Snowling filed for divorce in Dec. 2022.

Marie’s father, William Mosby, spoke with the newspaper Wednesday night and described John Snowling as a “crazy husband” who couldn’t deal with the divorce.

Of the six people injured, five of them had gunshot wounds, sheriff’s officials said. The nature of the sixth wounded person’s injuries was unknown. All six were taken to Providence Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, where two were listed in critical condition and four others were considered stable, according to hospital spokesman James Chisum.

The identities of the injured victims was not immediately available.

KCAL9 video from the scene showed at least two bodies covered with sheets outside the bar.

Sheriff’s officials said no deputies were injured.

Click Here: new york gaa jerseys

SEE ALSO: OC Judge Texted Staff That He Shot His Wife

Sheriff’s deputies and multiple ambulance crews swarmed to the scene, and all streets in the vicinity were shut down.

Multiple outlets reported that the gunman was a retired police sergeant from Ventura with KCAL reporting he worked with the agency from 1984 until 2014.

Shortly after the shooting, a woman who was inside the bar posted a series of photos showing blood smeared on the floor of the bar. She wrote that the gunman fired four or six shots toward her, but she was not hit.

A man who had been on his way to Cook’s Corner told the station at the scene that friends of his were inside the bar when the shooting occurred and saw the gunman, who was described as an older man with a gray beard. He said his friends were not injured.

Cook’s Corner is a well-known bar and biker hangout. The building is thought to date back to the late 1800s, although it did not begin operating as a restaurant until the 1920s. The restaurant bills itself as “one of the most famous biker bars in Southern California,” according to its website.

On Wednesday night, the bar/restaurant was offering its weekly $8 spaghetti dinner special, along with a live band named M Street that was scheduled to begin playing at 6:30 p.m. Around 6 p.m., the band posted a short video on its Instagram page showing the stage being set up, with the ominous caption, “Cook’s Corner before the onslaught!”

Another witness told reporters he saw the gunman wielding some type of long rifle and engage in a gunfight with sheriff’s deputies.

Hours before the shooting, several patrons were stopping by Cook’s Corner for an afternoon drink and meal. Rows of motorcycles and bikes framed the gravel entrance where plaques describe the storied history of the bar built in 1884.

Dozens of patrol cars and ambulances converged on the scene Wednesday evening.

According to OC Public Works, the shooting prompted authorities to shut down all nearby roads including: Santiago Canyon Road south of Crystal Canyon Road, El Toro Road north of Ridgeline Road, Live Oak Canyon east of El Toro and Santiago Canyon Road.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was monitoring the shooting “and coordinating with local officials as more details become available,” his office tweeted.

State Sen. Dave Min, D-Irvine, quickly issued a statement saying he was “heartbroken” by the shooting in his area.

“Our district is one of the safest areas in the country and yet we too are repeatedly afflicted with the scourge of mass shootings,” Min said. “An office park in Orange, a church in Laguna Woods, a bar in Trabuco Canyon. There is no place in America that is safe from the scourge of gun violence. There is no community not affected. Me heart breaks for the families and loved ones of the victims. We cannot rest until we end gun violence in this country.”

Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, posted on social media, “This is heartbreaking news for our Orange County community. I’m thinking of the victims and their loved ones as we await more information from law enforcement.”

Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley said it was “disturbing to now learn that the suspect killed his wife or ex-wife during an argument. Another domestic dispute led to another mass shooting. We must do more to prevent senseless acts of gun violence and protect survivors.”

More than two-thirds of mass shootings are domestic violence incidents or are perpetrated by shooters with a history of domestic violence, according to a peer-reviewed study released by the Educational Fund To Stop Gun Violence.

The study found that domestic violence-related mass shootings are associated with higher fatality rates than other mass shootings.

“In more than two-thirds (68.2 percent) of mass shootings analyzed, the perpetrator either killed family or intimate partners or the shooter had a history of domestic violence,” the study concluded.

Orange County’s deadliest mass shooting was the Salon Meritage shooting in Seal Beach in 2011, when gunman Scott Dekraai opened fire in the salon where his ex-wife worked, killing her and seven others. Only one shooting victim survived.

THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY. PLEASE REFRESH FOR MORE DETAILS.

City News Service and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.