Gunman Opens Fire at So Cal Church Festival

I checked the news on my cellphone while waiting at the Santa Rosa Mall and found this:

A rifleman opened fire at a festival outside a Granada Hills church this morning, wounding three people before an off-duty officer tackled the assailant, authorities said.

The shooting took place shortly before 11 a.m. at St. John Baptist de la Salle Catholic Church on the corner of Chatsworth Street and Hayvenhurst Avenue, said Los Angeles Police Officer Norma Eisenman.

The three victims were transported to local hospitals.

Police say the motive for the attack appears to be a custody dispute.

One of the victims was the rifleman's 29-year-old live-in girlfriend. She was shot in the elbow and listed in stable condition. The woman's son, 9, attended the festival and was unharmed. It was unclear whether the rifleman was the boy's father, Eisenman said.

The two other victims were a 45-year-old man who was shot in the leg and a 43-year-old man who was shot in the chest. Both are in stable condition.

Eisenman said the gunman used a semiautomatic rifle.

After the initial shots, the assailant was subdued by bystanders, one of whom was an off-duty police officer, Eisenman said.

I read in another account that it was an off-duty Burbank officer that made the initial tackle. I see a Medal of Valor coming for that guy.