The man who shot and killed three people and wounded six others Wednesday night at the Cook’s Corner biker bar in Trabuco Canyon has been identified as John Snowling, a retired officer from the Ventura Police Department, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.
Snowling, 59, worked for the department from 1986 to 2014 and retired as a sergeant, according to a department spokesperson. He ran the Ventura Police Officers’ Assn. for years and came under criticism for disparaging polls he commissioned against then-Ventura City Councilman Neal Andrews, who often clashed with the union.
He served as a patrol partner early in his career with Pat Miller, who later became the Ventura police chief.
In the early 2000s, Snowling worked on a patrol team that worked safety at Pacific View Mall. “This isn’t L.A., where we have shootings and stabbings,” Snowling said in an interview at the time. “It’s a pretty safe mall.”
Earlier, when he was a rookie officer, Snowling was sued by the family of a 90-year-old woman who was stabbed by a man suffering from an acute mental health crisis, according to court records. Snowling and his partner failed to order a mental health hold shortly before the man stabbed the woman to death, the court records said. Snowling was also known for working with Ventura’s homeless population.
Authorities believe Snowling was targeting his ex-wife during Wednesday’s shooting at the popular biker bar. His ex-wife was reportedly a regular at the bar, according to the sources.
Snowling was killed, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which posted an update to social media Wednesday.
A law enforcement source not authorized to discuss the investigation into Wednesday’s shooting, but with detailed knowledge of the incident, said Snowling had three guns — two handguns and a shotgun. The shotgun was used in a gun battle with deputies in a parking area, according to the source.
Although Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer identified John Snowling as the shooter, authorities have not identified any of the victims.
Snowling’s ex-wife, Marie Snowling, filed for divorce in December 2022, according to court records.
James Goldsmith, 68, who has lived two doors from the Snowlings for more than two decades in Camarillo, said Marie moved out after the divorce to live with her sick mother in Orange County.
Police officer John Snowling, right, on patrol at the Pacific View Mall in an undated photo.
(Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Goldsmith said he knew the former couple was going through “marital issues” but never heard any shouting or saw the police come by in response to any domestic disputes. Marie, he said, wanted to go out more and complained that all John wanted to do was stay at home.
“John was always kind of a standoffish kind of person,” Goldsmith said. “He wasn’t the most personable guy, not that I can say that there was anything really negative. He wasn’t the type of neighbor that you’d get the warm fuzzies from.”
Marie was an “absolute sweetheart” and a “really nice person,” according to Goldsmith.
She was the most social one between her and John and Goldsmith would often see her walking her dog outside. When Goldsmith’s son was younger, he would play with the Snowling’s son, Patrick.
John moved his parents in to the house next door about 20 years ago. John’s mother died and John helped look after his father, George, before he died about a year and a half ago, according to Goldsmith.
John had recently purchased a house in Ohio and was staying there most of the time; Goldsmith most recently saw him come back a few months ago to do some maintenance work on the house.
Goldsmith said that John seemed “controlling” and thinks that he “lost control” once he saw that Marie was moving on with her life. Goldsmith didn’t know if Marie had a new partner or was seeing anyone new, but is friends with her on Facebook and said she would often post about her life after filing for divorce.
“I think it reached a point where it felt like life was passing her by because he didn’t want to do anything,” he said. “He would barely maintain the house. I think she wanted to have friends and live life and that’s why I think she made the move that she did. It’s sad that he couldn’t allow that and let her live her own life.”
This story originally appeared on LA Times
