O.C. district attorney finds deputies justified in shooting Cook’s Corner suspect
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Sheriff’s deputies acted properly when they returned fire and killed a retired police officer who had already shot and killed three patrons and injured six at a landmark Trabuco Canyon biker bar, an investigation by the Orange County district attorney’s office has found.
The report called the responding Orange County sheriff’s deputies “justified” in making the decision to fire multiple rounds at John Patrick Snowling, who’d turned Cook’s Corner into what a survivor called a “war zone” when he opened fire on patrons during a popular spaghetti night promotion on Aug. 23, 2023.
“I was in fear for my life,” Deputy Brandon Espinosa told D.A. investigators, according to a report on the shooting. “I realized how close I was to getting shot.”
The district attorney’s office sent a copy of its report to Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes in April but did not publicly release it until Tuesday. The office typically investigates shootings involving police officers countywide.
Through interviews, surveillance footage, body camera and dash cam videos, the partially redacted report details the mass shooting and efforts by deputies to secure Cook’s Corner, a Saddleback Valley landmark that dates to the late 1800s.
A retired Ventura Police Department officer, Snowling had previously threatened his estranged wife, Marie, telling her she would be dead within a year from a heart attack as he planned to “fight her on everything and stress her out,” according to the report.
A regular, Marie showed up for spaghetti night before her husband entered the tavern wearing a blue plaid shirt, baseball cap and what she called an “evil” look. He proceeded to shoot her in the jaw from a few feet away.
Armed with a revolver and a semiautomatic handgun, Snowling then shot up the bar, striking bystanders, including two band members performing that night.
Espinosa and deputies Christian Moreno, Brandon Saunders, Mathew Ham, Jesus Carrasco, Daniel Serrano and Juan Contreras arrived within minutes of frantic 911 calls.
By that time, Snowling had exited the bar toward an elevated rear parking lot. He retrieved a shotgun, hid behind a Ford F-150 and then shot at deputies less than 50 yards away.
Espinosa, Carrasco and Contreras took cover behind open patrol vehicle doors and fired roughly two dozen pistol rounds.
Snowling reloaded behind a large oak tree in the parking lot.
Ham, armed with a patrol rifle, fired four shots.
“I could hear the sounds of rounds flying past me and the cracks of gunfire in the air,” Ham told investigators.
Snowling dropped his shotgun, giving deputies opportunity to reposition. The gunman reemerged from behind the tree and pointed his shotgun at Contreras.
Contreras and other deputies shot and killed Snowling, ending the five-minute shootout. The gunman appeared non-responsive with a shotgun near his feet, the report indicated. Another deputy removed a loaded semiautomatic pistol from the shooter’s back pocket.
Snowling, who was 60, suffered multiple gunshot wounds, including a fatal one to the head, according to an autopsy.
Investigators concluded deputies had justification to believe Snowling posed a “lethal threat.” He had already shot nine people by the time they arrived.
“Snowling refused to comply with Deputy Conteras’ order to drop his guns and stop shooting at deputies,” the report states. “Deputies … were justified when they shot at Snowling and carried out their duties as peace officers in a reasonable and justifiable manner.”
The investigation closed with no evidence of wrongdoing.
Marie Snowling survived. But her estranged husband took the lives of Tonya Clark, Glen Sprowl Jr., and John Leehey.
