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The man who opened fire inside a famed Orange County biker bar, leaving four dead, was a retired police officer locked in lengthy divorce proceedings with his estranged wife, whom he wounded in the shooting.
The bloodshed unfolded Wednesday night at Cook’s Corner in Trabuco Canyon, about 50 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, officials said.
The suspected gunman, identified as 59-year-old John Snowling, was one of the four people killed.
Snowling was a sergeant with the Ventura Police Department and worked there until his retirement in 2014, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said.
The Ventura Police Department confirmed that Snowling worked in the oceanside town from July of 1986 through February of 2014.
A friend of Snowling’s wife, who was with her at the bar on Wednesday night, said the spouse had filed for divorce against the shooter.
Ventura County Superior Court records show the divorce proceedings started on Dec. 21, with the matter still ongoing.
Bar patron Betty Fruichantie said she and the suspected shooter’s wife didn’t initially move when the shots were fired.
“We thought, I thought it was just firecrackers,” Fruichantie told NBC Los Angeles. “She didn’t say anything. People were getting shot. People were getting shot.”
The shooter’s wife “was injured in the shooting and is not deceased,” according to an Orange County Sheriff’s Department statement on Thursday.
Attorneys for the divorcing pair could not be immediately reached for comment on Thursday.
Snowling had a base salary of $98,748 in 2013 with total pay of $127,353, according to the latest public records on his earnings.
John Snowling was among eight children of U.S. Navy veteran George Louis “Buddy” Snowling, who died in early 2020.
The retired police officer and his wife were the man’s primary caregivers in his final month of life, according to a widely circulated obituary on the elder Snowling.
The Ventura Police Department pledged to assist the Orange County sheriff’s deputies in the ongoing shooting probe.
“Our hearts weigh heavy with the distressing incident at Cook’s Corner,” Chief Darin Schindler said in statement.
“Our deepest condolences are with the families of the victims, the survivors, add the Orange County deputies who swiftly responded to the scene. This incident deeply affects us all.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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