4 Killed, 6 Injured In Mass Shooting In Southern California
Afimag.com –
No fewer than four people have been killed, and six others greatly injured in a mass shooting at a landmark biker bar in Trabuco Canyon in Orange County, southern California, on the night of August 23, 2023.
The law enforcement sources, who disclosed this on August 24, 2023, said over five people could be dead in the shooting.
Authorities descended on Cook’s Corner on Santiago Canyon Road after the shooting was reported around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (0230 GMT).
Two sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the gunman was a retired Ventura County law enforcement officer.
Sources said victims were hit with stray bullets as the gun runner targeted his estranged wife.
It is not clear whether the shooter followed her to the location before opening fire on the crowd, they said.
A longtime motorcycle hangout, Cook’s Corner sits at the juncture of El Toro, Santiago Canyon and Live Oak Canyon roads, near O’Neill Regional Park.
M Street, a five-piece Orange County rock band was scheduled to perform at the bar Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m., according to the venue’s online calendar.
The band posted a video to its Instagram page earlier Wednesday evening showing its instruments set up on a small stage in the still empty-looking wood-paneled bar.
“I’m heartbroken by the news of yet another mass shooting tonight, this time at Cook’s Corner, a historic bar in the heart of Orange County.
“My heart breaks for the families and loved ones of the victims,’’ state Senator Dave Min, an Irvine Democrat, said in a statement.
Cook’s Corner was named after Andrew Jackson Cook, who got about 190 acres of Aliso Canyon in a land trade in 1884, according to a Times story.
His son, Earl Jack E.J. Cook, opened a roadside hamburger joint in 1931.
He said that after prohibition ended in 1933, alcohol was added to the menu, and Cook’s Corner became a full-fledged bar.
In 1946, Cook bought an old mess hall from the Santa Ana Army Air Base, hauled it up El Toro Road, and the tavern was born.
Motorcycle riders discovered the place in the 1970s, and it has been a popular spot for decades.