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Tonya Clark

Age : 49

Gender : Female

Race : Unknown

Date : 08/23/2023

Location : Cook’s Corner, 19152 Santiago Canyon Road

City : Trebuco Canyon

County : Ventura

State : California

Agency : Ventura Police Department, retired officer

Officer(s) :John Patrick Snowling, retired sergeant

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by retired police sergeant during mass shooting targeting estranged wife

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/23/2023, Tonya Clark, 49, of Scottsdale, Arizona, was at Cook’s Corner in Trabuco Canyon with her friend Marie Snowling. Clark was at the bar on her 49th birthday. Marie Snowling was separated from her husband, retired Ventura Police Department Sgt. John Snowling, and had filed for divorce in December 2022.
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John Snowling had traveled to California from Ohio amid the ongoing divorce. He entered Cook’s Corner carrying two handguns and walked directly toward Marie Snowling and Clark. According to investigators, there was no argument or conversation before Snowling opened fire. He shot Marie Snowling in the jaw.
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Snowling then shot Clark. Despite being critically wounded, Clark was able to get outside the bar and reach the roadway before collapsing. She died from the gunshot injuries.
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Snowling continued firing at people inside and outside Cook’s Corner. He ultimately shot nine people, killing Clark, Glen Sprowl Jr. and John Leehey and wounding six others, including Marie Snowling.
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Snowling subsequently retrieved additional weapons from his pickup truck and exchanged gunfire with responding Orange County sheriff’s deputies, who shot and killed him.
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The Orange County Sheriff’s Department Coroner Division formally identified Clark as one of the three people killed at Cook’s Corner.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
John Patrick Snowling was a retired Ventura Police Department sergeant. He joined the department in July 1986 and retired in February 2014 after approximately 28 years. He had worked in assignments including patrol and traffic and had served as president of the Ventura Police Officers Association.
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Snowling and Marie Snowling had been married for more than three decades. They separated in 2020, and Marie filed for divorce in December 2022. Snowling had been living in Ohio while retaining property in Camarillo, California.
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Investigators recovered four legally purchased firearms belonging to Snowling: three handguns and a 12-gauge shotgun

SOURCE LINKS :

https://abc7.com/orange-county-bar-mass-shooting-trabuco-canyon-crooks-corner/13694011/
https://abc7.com/post/cooks-corner-victims-orange-county-mass-shooting-marie-snowling-john-leehey/13700901/
https://apnews.com/article/be474bdb916250261808d34cc20f67b3
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-24/cooks-corner-shooting-suspect-john-snowling-worked-for-decades-for-ventura-police-department