Gunman Kills Two After Argument at Neighborhood Bar in Santa Ana

In the 17 years Juan Gomez has owned the Right Road Billards beer bar and pool hall in downtown Santa Ana, he said, he has never had trouble more serious than a little shoving between drinking companions.

But early Saturday morning an apparent argument turned violent and two men were shot to death. A third man was pistol-whipped and left in serious condition.

Neither Gomez nor police knew Saturday what had started the argument, nor did the witnesses who talked to Gomez on Saturday.

But those witnesses, he said, told him that 23-year-old Adolfo Perez of Santa Ana was sitting on a bar stool, his back against the counter, when a man he may have argued with yelled at him from about 10 feet away to step outside and fight.

When Perez refused, the challenger cocked a gun and fired several times, killing Perez, witnesses said. The gunman then ran out the door, chased by several men. He turned and shot, killing Guadalupe Tovar, 30, of Santa Ana. He also struck Manuel Leon, 25, of Santa Ana with the gun.

Then, “for some reason, he apparently came back to the bar and was there when the officers arrived,” Police Sgt. Gail Clark said. He was discovered when police began to evacuate the bar, and he surrendered without a struggle, Clark said.

Martin Islas, 27, of Santa Ana, was booked into the Orange County Jail on suspicion of murder and is being held without bail.

Leon was taken to the Western Medical Center in Santa Ana where he was in serious condition.

Gomez said he knew both Perez and Islas, and was almost certain they did not know each other. Islas frequented the bar and pool hall several times a week, and Perez perhaps once a week.

The Right Road Billards, 1029 East 4th St., is a busy place in a commercial area. It has nine pool tables, a dozen bar stools and several tables.

For nearly 17 years, Gomez said, he has had the same evening routine.

“I always check the (bar) room and look to see who is there; then I look around the pool tables,” he said. “I usually know everybody. If I see anyone I think might cause trouble, then I stay the rest of the night. If it looks OK, I go home.”

The system has worked so well that Gomez has never had security guards, and his bartenders have almost always been women.

Friday night, Gomez, 55, made his usual last-minute perusal and found only one customer who worried him. It was Perez, the first shooting victim.

“I told him three times that he’d had too much to drink, to go home,” Gomez said. “Finally, he was at the door and said he was going. I thought things were OK, so I left.”

Gomez acknowledges that shootings and stabbings are almost weekly occurrences in some street corner bars in Santa Ana like his. But Right Road Billards has been different, he said.

Sgt. Jack Rife, Santa Ana Police watch commander, said he knew of no serious incidents at Gomez’s place before Saturday.

Gomez described most of his customers as “hard-working people who come in for one, two, maybe three beers, shoot a little pool, then go home. . . . Most of them know my girls (his bartenders and night manager) and don’t want to give them a hard time.”