COUNTYWIDE : Man Shoots Woman, Turns Gun on Self

When Larry Burgoon sat down at Mary Louise Cutbirth’s table in the cocktail lounge of a popular Anaheim Hills restaurant, he was surely the last man she wanted to see.

In court documents, Cutbirth had complained that the burly construction worker--her former live-in boyfriend--had threatened to kill her.

Burgoon apparently tailed her to the bar Thursday night and sat down at the table as Cutbirth, 51, nursed a nightcap with a girlfriend, according to Anaheim police and witnesses. After a few tense minutes, Burgoon allegedly drew a pistol and fired a bullet into her face. Then he turned the gun on himself, cranking off two shots before crumpling to the floor.

Cutbirth was rushed to United Western Medical Center-Santa Ana while Burgoon was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange. Both were reported in critical condition Friday.

What police are calling an attempted murder-suicide brought Cutbirth’s worst fears to life, the kind of incident she had tried to head off by seeking a court order to get Burgoon out of her life. Just last week, an Orange County Superior Court judge granted her request for an order to require that the former boyfriend stay at least 100 yards away from her house or workplace.

Cutbirth, who is 19 years older than Burgoon, complained in court papers that on Sept. 29 he “kicked the coffee table and said he would make sure something would happen to me and my family.”

Four days later, Burgoon pulled up in his car as she was leaving the Fullerton home they once shared. She quoted him as telling her: “You are dead.”

She also wrote to the judge, in applying for the restraining order, that Burgoon had received treatment for drug addiction and suffered from mental illness. On one occasion, she added, he stole her car.

None of these troubles were apparent to neighbors. One woman who lives near Cutbirth’s well-maintained tract house on North Cornell Avenue said that the two appeared to live quiet, happy lives during the approximately two years they lived together.

Although she said the pair faced difficult times recently, she described Burgoon as “very friendly” and added that Cutbirth too was nice, though she “tended to keep to herself.”

After winning the court order against Burgoon, Cutbirth went about trying to live a normal life. On Thursday evening, she went out on the town with a girlfriend and ended up about 10 p.m. at the Foxfire restaurant, a popular hangout for middle-aged Anaheim locals--including many off-duty police officers--at Santa Ana Canyon Road and Imperial Highway at the base of the hills.

The atmosphere was festive, with a band performing and couples swaying on the dance floor. Cutbirth and her girlfriend sat by themselves at a table near the band. Before they could finish the first round, in walked Burgoon, restaurant owner Lynn Mahoney said.

Cutbirth’s friend sensed trouble, Mahoney said. Apparently seeing the pistol in Burgoon’s clothing, she discreetly asked the cocktail waitress to get help. But before the waitress could reach the manager, the man allegedly pulled the handgun and shot Cutbirth, witnesses and police said.

Mahoney said a band member saw Burgoon shoot himself in the head, only to get up and fire another shot into himself. A woman who had been sitting at another table said the shots from the small-caliber handgun sounded like a cap pistol.