The United States bereaved by a new shooting. A retired cop tried to kill his estranged wife at a California bar on Wednesday night before going after patrons to kill three others and injure a total of six.
59-year-old John Snowling was an ex-police officer who is currently going through a divorce from his wife Marie, Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes said at a press conference Thursday, August 24. When he walked into the Cook’s Corner bar, about an hour’s drive southeast of Los Angeles, “he headed straight for her,” he said.
“There was no discussion, dialogue or argument, he immediately shot her. She survived and is currently hospitalized. The shooter then shot the woman who was dining with Marie and killed two other men, according to the sheriff. In addition to these deaths, he also injured six, including his wife.
A former police officer from the city of Ventura, north of Los Angeles, John Snowling retired in 2014, after almost thirty years of career. His wife had filed for divorce in December, authorities said, and the proceedings were still ongoing. “He was a crazy husband, who couldn’t stand the divorce,” Marie Snowling’s father, William Mosby, told the Orange County Register.
John Snowling was very quickly shot during a confrontation with law enforcement officers in the parking lot behind the bar, the sheriff said. Two injured are still in critical condition, authorities said.
The shooter had come from Ohio, a northern state where he resided. But investigators have yet to determine if he was following his wife, the sheriff said. A friend of Marie Snowling, present with her in the bar, told the local channel NBC4 how her ex-husband tumbled into this place very popular with bikers in the region.
“She was the target, but he was also shooting everywhere else,” said Betty Fruichantie. “He also shot people at different tables. People were on the ground, and some were on top of people compressing their wounds. It was just awful, it was awful,” she said.
According to her, Marie Snowling was currently staying with friends and her husband resented their separation. “California mourns the victims of last night’s horrific shooting at Cook’s Corner,” state Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
“Two-thirds of mass shooters in the United States have a history of domestic violence,” said the Democrat, recalling that California law allows the confiscation of firearms from husbands who pose a threat to their wives. “If you see red flags, speak up – and in doing so, save lives,” he urged.
The United States has more firearms than inhabitants and pays a very heavy price in the face of this proliferation, disproportionate to other developed countries. Excluding suicides, more than 12,000 people have died in gun violence since the start of the year in the country, according to the association Gun Violence Archive (GVA).
