A father describes rushing his 7-month-old to safety during a California biker bar shooting

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The retired police sergeant who opened fire in a popular Southern California biker bar during a lively evening had traveled from Ohio to confront his estranged wife, shooting her in the face before turning his gun on the crowd, authorities said. (Aug 24) (AP Video by Eugene Garcia/Production by Ao Gao)

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A retired police officer opened fire in a popular Southern California biker bar, leaving three dead and at least five others with gunshot wounds. (Aug. 24) (AP video: Eugene Garcia and Jae Hong)

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Three people were killed in a shooting Wednesday at a Southern California biker bar and the shooter also died, Orange County Sheriff’s officials said. Six more people were transported to hospitals, five of them with gunshot wounds. (Aug. 24)

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People hold candles during a prayer vigil Friday, Aug. 25, 2023, at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., for victims of Wednesday’s shootings at Cook’s Corner in Trabuco Canyon. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Kikila Bumanglag, right, hugs an unidentified Cook’s Corner’s employee during a prayer vigil Friday, Aug. 25, 2023, at Saddleback Church in honor of the victims of Wednesday’s shootings at Cook’s Corner in Trabuco Canyon. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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People attend a prayer vigil Friday, Aug. 25, 2023, in Lake Forest, Calif., for victims of the shootings Wednesday at Cook’s Corner in Trabuco Canyon. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Motorcyclists ride away after a prayer vigil Friday, Aug. 25, 2023, in Lake Forest, Calif., for victims of the shootings Wednesday at Cook’s Corner in Trabuco Canyon. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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People attend a prayer vigil Friday, Aug. 25, 2023, at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., for victims of Wednesday’s shootings at Cook’s Corner in Trabuco Canyon. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Kikila Bumanglag, right, gestures as she talks to an unidentified Cook’s Corner’s employee, at a prayer vigil Friday, Aug. 25, 2023, in Lake Forest, Calif., for victims of the shootings Wednesday at Cook’s Corner in Trabuco Canyon. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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People hold lighted candles as they join in a prayer vigil Friday, Aug. 25, 2023, at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., for the victims of Wednesday’s shootings at Cook’s Corner in Trabuco Canyon, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Members of the Trabuco Caynon community, Kevin Roberts hugs friend, Tara Donahue, both regulars of the Cook’s Corner as they join a prayer vigil to help families cope with the Cook’s Corner shooting tragedy at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., Friday, Aug. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Members of the Trabuco Caynon community join in a prayer vigil to help families cope with the Cook’s Corner shooting tragedy at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., Friday, Aug. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Members of the Sheriff’s Department take a photo with Huntington Beach Fire Department Peer Support Dog, Kingman, as they join the Trabuco Caynon community join in a prayer vigil to help families cope with the Cook’s Corner shooting tragedy at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., Friday, Aug. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Orange County Fire Authority members join area residents in a prayer vigil at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., Friday, Aug. 25, 2023, for the victims of Wednesday’s shootings at Cook’s Corner in Trabuco Canyon, Calif.. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Detectives look at motorcycles that remain parked at Cook’s Corner, the scene of a mass shooting Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, in Trabuco Canyon, Calif. Authorities say the retired police officer who opened fire at a popular Southern California bar entered and first shot his estranged wife and her dinner companion before firing at random. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Flower bouquets are left in memory of the shooting victims on top of a water pipe as law enforcement personnel stage at the scene of a mass shooting at Cook’s Corner, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, in Trabuco Canyon, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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This aerial photo shows Cook’s Corner, the scene of a mass shooting, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, in Trabuco Canyon, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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This aerial photo shows Cook’s Corner, bottom center, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, in Trabuco Canyon, Calif. Gunfire at a popular Southern California biker bar killed three people and wounded five others, and the gunman — believed to be a retired law enforcement officer — was fatally shot by deputies, authorities said. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

By STEFANIE DAZIO

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ryan Guidus was enjoying a spontaneous night out Wednesday with his 7-month-old daughter and mother-in-law at Cook’s Corner, a favorite family spot in Southern California that he’s frequented since his own childhood, when gunshots rang out.

First, he thought it was fireworks. But when screaming began and more shots followed, the bar’s popular weekly spaghetti night turned into every parent’s worst nightmare as a retired police sergeant opened fire.

“I just reached into the stroller and ejected my daughter out of that thing, ripped her out of there as fast as I could,” Guidus told The Associated Press on Friday. “It was all a blur, it happened so fast.”

Clutching baby Olive to his chest, Guidus sprinted from the bar’s patio to the back of the property where other patrons were hiding among the hillside trees along an embankment. When more shots erupted, the 36-year-old father handed Olive to a man next to him and jumped 10 feet (3.05 meters) down before grabbing her back.

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Mountain bikers, finishing up a ride in the area, then helped him navigate the brush, one lifting a tree branch for him and his mother-in-law to crawl under, as they escaped to a nearby parking lot. He borrowed another mountain biker’s cellphone — he’d dropped his own in the stroller — to call his wife and his parents.

Only then did the baby start crying. It was nearing bedtime, and she was hungry for a bottle.

“I can’t stop hugging and kissing her,” Guidus said. “I obviously pray to God that she doesn’t remember this. I assume she won’t.”

Authorities said John Snowling killed three people Wednesday, including his wife’s dining companion and a man who approached him as Snowling retrieved additional guns from his truck, and wounded six others. Snowling was fatally shot by deputies within minutes of the rampage.

Snowling, 59, was a retired police sergeant with the Ventura Police Department in Southern California. His wife, Marie Snowling, had filed for divorce in December 2022, citing irreconcilable differences. The proceedings were ongoing and the case was scheduled for a mandatory settlement conference in November.

Authorities identified the fatally shot victims as John Leehey, 67, of Irvine, California; Tonya Clark, 49, of Scottsdale, Arizona; and Glen Sprowl Jr., 53, of Stanton, California.

Clark was celebrating her 49th birthday at the bar, the Orange County Register reported.

Sprowl had worked as a truck driver and a bouncer, his uncle Bob Herrick told the paper. He was the man who approached Snowling in the parking lot as Snowling went to his truck to gather more guns, the paper reported.

Authorities have not provided more details about the interaction between the two men.

Leehey, an urban planner, previously worked at architecture firm Danielian Associates, which offered its condolences to his family on Friday.

“John was a bright star and a respected industry leader,” the company wrote in a Facebook post. “His career path in land planning and landscape design took him all over the world, including time with us at Danielian.”

A vigil was held Friday evening at Saddleback Church in nearby Lake Forest.

Officials said John Snowling traveled from Ohio, where he had been living on a 7-acre property with his dog, according to his divorce lawyer, Tristan teGroen. It was unclear when he arrived in Southern California, where he still owns property in Camarillo.

The sheriff’s department hasn’t given more details about Snowling’s motive.

For Guidus, Cook’s Corner is a family tradition. The bar is where he took his now-wife on their first date. It’s where her family joins them some Sundays, and where he and his mother-in-law grabbed a drink on Wednesday while his wife was at work. Olive, wearing shorts and a tiny “bikes over Barbies” T-shirt that night, escaped with just a scratch on her arm from the brush.

Guidus said he and his family will return to Cook’s Corner as soon as it reopens in support of their favorite hangout.

“I’ve been going to Cook’s since I was 3 years old, with my parents on the back of their motorcycle,” he said. “It’s a landmark, it’s a place that we love to visit.”