Neighbor describes chaos that followed fatal shooting at Livermore bowling alley
LIVERMORE -- A neighbor who lives near the Granada Bowl in Livermore on Monday talked about the chaos that unfolded in the wake of a fatal shooting there Saturday night.
The Granada Bowl reopened on Monday for the first time since the deadly shooting that happened inside over the weekend. The shooting left one man dead and two other people hospitalized. Family identified the shooting victim who died as 28-year-old Antonio Vargas.
Earlier Monday, Livermore police identified 27-year-old Roger Aleman Garcia as the suspect wanted for the shooting.
Garcia is a convicted felon with an extensive prior criminal history, including assault with a deadly weapon. He is currently prohibited from owning a firearm. Police said they issued several search warrants during the weekend related to the deadly shooting as they searched for Garcia, but the suspect remains at large
The Granada Bowl has been a fixture and a family standby in the Livermore community for decades. On Saturday, there were people in the neighborhood who dropped everything when they heard the sirens of police arriving at the bowling alley and rushed to help.
"I heard all of this commotion, screaming; you can feel the energy. So I ran to my balcony and looked out and I heard and saw chaos," explained Livermore resident Cheryl Until, who lives near the Granada Bowl.
"So I looked down and I hollered, 'Hey, can I help you?' And they looked up, 'Yes! Please help us! Please help us!'" Until recalled.
All she knew initially was that a little girl had gone missing from the bowling alley.
"I felt it. I ran out there to see if I could help. I just wanted to help the neighbors," she said. "It's human nature, right?"
And then she learned what really had happened.
"She [the little girl] ran when she heard the gunshots. And I said, 'Wait, what? There was a shooting?'" said Until.
She said the little girls mother told her what had happened.
"We were near the bar and we saw the commotion and I looked up and they started fighting and one man reached at his belt at his waist," Until explained.
The little girl who was celebrating her eighth birthday at the bowling alley Saturday night was nowhere to be found after listening to her mothers orders.
"She knew right away, so she screamed, 'Gun! Run!' Well, that little girl knew what to do and she got the hell out of there," said Until. "And we couldn't find her for a good 15-20 minutes."
She was eventually found hiding in a nearby garage.
"She would not come out of that garage until her mother came out. She was actually terrified," remembered Until. "She was not hurt physically, but emotionally. It was for her eight-year-old birthday party and the kids were all white t-shirts that had her name and happy birthday on the t-shirts and they were all still wearing bowling shoes."
A life lost and a little girl's birthday stolen by gun violence. And now the community is trying to figure out how to make it right again.
"I know my town and in Livermore we will all know each other," said Until. "And we will come together and throw this girl another dream birthday party that's safe, and I know Livermore police will be there to guard the party."
