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California IN BRIEF : OROVILLE : Fire Levels Saloon Day After Slayings

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From Times staff and Wire reports

An incendiary device was apparently used late Friday to torch a rural saloon where the bartender and another man were shot to death the previous night. Butte County sheriff’s investigators said the saloon in the Berry Creek region 25 miles northeast of Oroville was leveled by the blaze. Firefighters with six units of equipment were forced to wait 15 minutes a quarter-mile from the scene because of reports of gunshots at the site. Earlier in the evening, a crowd had shown up outside the saloon in what locals said was a “candlelight vigil” for the slain men. The sheriff’s office identified one of the victims as Charles Haley, 60, of Berry Creek, who was a customer at the bar Thursday night when the shootings followed an argument in a parking lot. The bartender, known as “Dave” but who was not officially identified, was also killed. Suspects in the shootings were still being sought Saturday.

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