Cali: Criminal shoots 4 people, then himself

[Ryan in Maine]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_california_restaurant_shooting

 By ANDREW DALTON, Associated Press Writer Andrew Dalton, Associated Press Writer   – 1 hr 15 mins ago

LOS ANGELES – A man opened fire on his stepdaughter's family inside a California restaurant Saturday, killing her husband and 6-year-old son, critically wounding her and another child, and then fatally shooting himself, police said.

Jimmy Schlager, 56, arrived at the Del Taco restaurant in San Bernardino on a bike at about 1 p.m., walked over to a table and fired several shots at his 29-year-old stepdaughter, her 33-year-old husband, and their sons, ages 5 and 6, San Bernardino police Lt. Jarrod Burguan said.

"There was a very brief exchange of words, then he opened fire on them at near point-blank range," Burguan said.

The woman's husband was declared dead at the restaurant and the 6-year-old died at a hospital, San Bernardino Fire Department spokesman Steve Tracey said.

The woman and the 5-year-old boy were in critical condition at Loma Linda University Medical Center, Tracey said. The names of the victims were not released.

The woman's mother who was married to Schlager died several years ago, and investigators were probing what ties Schlager and his stepdaughter may still have had as they sought a motive for the shooting, Burguan said.

Police said between five and seven employees and several other customers were in the fast food restaurant, but the gunman clearly walked in seeking the four victims and no one else was injured.

Bullet holes marked the walls and glass covered the floor.

Owners of nearby businesses said horrified patrons streamed out of the restaurant after the shots were fired.

"I saw some people yelling and all of a sudden I heard 'boom, boom, boom, boom'," Jorge Garcia, who works at a recycling trailer in the same parking lot as the restaurant, told the Riverside Press-Enterprise. "I saw two employees run out of the employee door and then I saw eight or 10 people run out of the restaurant and across the street."

Schlager, who is from Lancaster in northern Los Angeles County, had an extensive criminal record dating back to 1972 that included assault with a deadly weapon and a restraining order taken out by a co-worker.

Despite living an hour's drive away, Schlager had many ties to San Bernardino and once lived just a few blocks from the restaurant, Burguan said.

Burguan said the attack on the family was one of the worst crime scenes he could remember in San Bernardino, a city of about 200,000 people some 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

"This was something else," he said.

___

Associated Press Writer Jackie Quinn contributed to this report.

Criminal. Cali. Gun. Almost always a bad recipe.

[Stand_watie]

     If it were anywhere BUT California, I'd wonder about the showing up on a bike thing. Here in Texas, and everywhere else I've lived in the U.S., there are 5 types of bicycle riders.

1. Children
2. Parents with children
3. Mentally retarded people
4. Serious bicycle riders
5. Multiple DUI offenders.

[Viking]

Schlager, who is from Lancaster in northern Los Angeles County, had an extensive criminal record dating back to 1972 that included assault with a deadly weapon and a restraining order taken out by a co-worker.

So, what the hell was he doing outside then?

[Tallpine]

Schlager, who is from Lancaster in northern Los Angeles County, had an extensive criminal record dating back to 1972 that included assault with a deadly weapon and a restraining order taken out by a co-worker.

Aren't we all glad that felons can't legally possess guns?

Otherwise, someone might have gotten hurt. 

[MicroBalrog]

So, what the hell was he doing outside then?

Uh, if his record is from 1972... how many years do you think a person gets for assault with a deadly weapon? Five? Ten?

[taurusowner]

Uh, if his record is from 1972... how many years do you think a person gets for assault with a deadly weapon? Five? Ten?

Or it could mean that his record started in 1972 and he's been adding to it since.  The question about why he's out would then be appropriate.

[roo_ster]

Or it could mean that his record started in 1972 and he's been adding to it since.  The question about why he's out would then be appropriate.

Yep, murderers usually leave a trail a mile wide and years long.

[Viking]

Uh, if his record is from 1972... how many years do you think a person gets for assault with a deadly weapon? Five? Ten?

The article said "extensive criminal record". Just makes me wonder why a guy with an "extensive criminal record" is outside...

[grampster]

All law abiding gun owners should all turn in our guns.  That way the police will know who the criminals are...they will have guns.

[vaskidmark]

The article said "extensive criminal record". Just makes me wonder why a guy with an "extensive criminal record" is outside...

Because California, in order to comply with multiple court orders regarding prison overcrowding, 1) issues (relative to other parts of the country) short sentences, 2) releases all but the most henious offenders before the lightweights specifically to upset the electorate (or so policy and politics would seem to suggest), and 3) because past offenses seem IM(not at all H)O not to matter to Cali judges.

And as far as the "felon in possession" and "subject of a restraining order" points?  He was just a tad confused about how long those restrictions were supposed to last.  Seems he was ordering stuff from the prison canteen that day they covered in in the law library lectures.

And haven't we all had days when the stepdaughter, step-son-in-law and the step-grandchildren really just plucked one time too many on that one last frayed nerve?  Where's all the love and understanding that this guy obviously needed? (OK, even I can't pull off writing that without  -ing.)

stay safe.

[longeyes]

Probably just one more victim of poverty.  But don't worry, Obama's working on that...