7 Hit as Gunman Fires Into Crowded Sports Bar

Seven St. Patrick’s Day revelers were injured when a man casually walked up to a Costa Mesa sports bar, drew a shotgun from under his coat and blasted birdshot through one of the crowded bar’s windows.

Standing next to a line of horrified people waiting to get in, the gunman aimed for customers who were playing pool inside Shooters Sports Bar and Cafe on Baker Street late Wednesday night. Hundreds of patrons dived for cover from spraying pellets.

“I’m making drinks, and suddenly I heard what sounded like a pop gun,” said Shooters’ manager Mike Baird. “The girl I was serving drinks to got hit in the back by little pellets.”

One 24-year-old customer, Peter Zapata, who police believe was the intended target, was hit in the face. “There was a lot of blood,” said security guard John Godby. “The [pellets] were enmeshed in his head.”

All seven victims, including Zapata, were treated at local hospitals for injuries and released, said Costa Mesa Police Lt. Ron Smith.

Ten minutes after the 11:30 p.m. attack, police arrested four suspects following a brief car chase, Smith said. All four were booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and were being held Thursday on $50,000 bail. Detectives suspect the attack may somehow be gang-related, he said.

On Thursday morning, employees cleared away broken glass from the east side of the bar where the attack took place. Cardboard squares covered two tinted window panes shattered during the attack, one by the shotgun blast, the other by a pool cue ball that a customer threw in retaliation.

About 300 people had packed the bar for $1 beers and a St. Patrick’s Day corned beef and cabbage buffet when the gunman approached, Baird said.

The man walked through the bar’s well-lit parking lot, past a security guard and stopped beside the end of a line of people that snaked around the building, Baird said. Facing windows that looked in on the bar’s pool tables, the man opened his knee-length trench coat, took out a shotgun and fired one round, witnesses said.

The gunman turned and fled to a nearby parking lot, where he jumped into a red car and took off, said Godby, who gave chase. Another security guard flagged down a police car and an officer radioed for help.

Meanwhile, the festive atmosphere at Shooters quickly returned as patrons shrugged off the incident.

“The music resumed and the party continued two minutes later,” Baird said. “I was in shock, but people were still carrying on as if it was no big deal.”

Half a mile away, officers in another patrol car caught sight of a 1998 Acura that matched the getaway car’s description, Smith said. After a brief chase, four men inside the car surrendered and were arrested.

They are: Peter Antolin, 24, who believe was the gunman; Jose Mora, 24; Marco Roman, 23; and Miguel Serrato, 23. All four are from Orange, Smith said, and are scheduled for arraignment today. Police are investigating the possibility that they belong to a gang.

The seven victims suffered mostly welts and cuts, Smith said. The shotgun cartridge, he said, was packed with tiny birdshot pellets. Had it contained fewer but larger pellets, or had a window not absorbed some of the blast, the wounds would have been more severe, he said.