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One man died and two others were injured after they were shot when a fight in the bar at Granada Bowl escalated into gunfire on Saturday evening, according to Livermore police.
Family members have identified the fatal victim on social media as Antonio Vargas, saying “his sudden death has shocked and has left our family completely devastated.”
The suspect remained at-large over the weekend, according to police.
The situation unfolded at about 6 p.m. Saturday at the bowling alley on Railroad Avenue at the corner of P Street on the edge of downtown Livermore, according to police Sgt. Steve Goard.
An argument developed between several people in the bar area, which is separated from the bowling lanes at the venue, Goard told Livermore Vine. “We believe they knew of each other, but what prompted it, the verbal altercation, we don’t know what caused it,” he said.
The yelling turned into a physical altercation, during which the suspect pulled out a handgun and fired several rounds striking three men, according to Goard.
One of the victims — a 28-year-old man — was pronounced dead at the scene from his injuries, according to Goard. Authorities have not released the name of the man who died, but family and friends by Sunday had confirmed the decedent was Vargas.
“On Saturday afternoon of July 16th, he’d just left his home with bowling bag in hand to what he thought would be another good time with his friends,” Cathy Gutierrez wrote in a post on Facebook
“Antonio Vargas was an only son, but a brother to many,” she added. “He was and is loved and adored by his parents, who are still in shock and expecting to see him walk through the door at any moment and end this nightmare. Antonio was a hard worker and devoted son. He loved to spend time with his friends and just loved life.”
Vargas’ father created a GoFundMe page to raise money to help the family pay for burial expenses. The effort had raised more than $16,000 as of Sunday evening.
The two other victims — whose names have not been released — were listed in stable condition at a local hospital, as of Saturday evening. At this point police believe all three victims were involved in the fight.
The shooter ran from the scene, according to the Goard. He declined to release a description of the shooter, saying investigators were working to follow up on suspect leads.
Granada Bowl seemed to have typical crowd levels for an early Saturday evening at the time these days, with people in both the bar area and bowling lanes but not near capacity, according to Goard.
The bowling alley is scheduled to reopen on Monday afternoon, with shortened hours of operation expected indefinitely, management said on social media.
“The staff and management of Granada Bowl are deeply saddened by the senseless act of violence that occurred at our center on Saturday evening. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” management said. “The safety and security of our customers and employees is and always will continue to be a top priority. We will do everything in our power to assist local authorities in bringing the responsible party to justice.”
Saturday’s shooting marked the second homicide of 2022 in the city of Livermore. A 15-year-old Richmond girl died after being found shot and unresponsive inside a vehicle parked near Las Positas College on April 15.
“The shooter ran from the scene, according to the sergeant. He declined to release a description of the shooting, saying investigators were working to follow up on suspect leads.”
Always the case in these shootings and homicides isn’t it? Special note, the word ‘shooting’ was probably meant to be ‘shooter.’
I appreciate you pointing out the lazy typo, Jake. It has been corrected.
While I understand your open distrust of local police on these matters, I suggest you reach out to them and share your criticisms of their investigative strategies. We do strive to ask the question when no description is given of an at-large suspect/vehicle, and we are often told it is for investigative reasons. We can surmise based on our experience what could be going on (such as maybe they know who the person is or have a strong lead toward such, but revealing that publicly could harm the investigation in their eyes), but in our reporting we always aim to avoid speculation or conclusions without corroboration.
Very said.
I’ll speculate as to why they didn’t describe the shooter. He’s Hispanic, and they’re being PC. When it’s a white guy, the race is disclosed. I see it all the time, and I see other commenters point it out in the comments section on news sites.
It doesn’t harm the investigation to give a description by age, race, weight, height and gender.
Maybe newsom could make a law to make illegal murder illegal.