LOS ANGELES — A man opened fire on his stepdaughter’s family inside a California restaurant Saturday, killing her husband and 6-year-old son, critically wounding her and another child, and then fatally shooting himself, police said.
Jimmy Schlager, 56, arrived at the Del Taco restaurant in San Bernardino on a bike about 1 p.m., walked over to a table and fired several shots at his 29-year-old stepdaughter, her 33-year-old husband, and their sons, ages 5 and 6, San Bernardino police Lt. Jarrod Burguan said.
“There was a very brief exchange of words, then he opened fire on them at near point-blank range,” Burguan said.
The woman’s husband was declared dead at the restaurant and the 6-year-old died at a hospital, San Bernardino Fire Department spokesman Steve Tracey said.
The woman and the 5-year-old boy were in critical condition at Loma Linda University Medical Center, Tracey said.
The names of the victims weren’t released.
The woman’s mother, who was married to Schlager, died several years ago, and investigators were probing what ties Schlager and his stepdaughter may still have had as they sought a motive for the shooting, Burguan said.
Police said between five and seven employees and several other customers were in the fast-food restaurant, but Schlager clearly walked in seeking the four victims, and no one else was injured.
Schlager, who is from Lancaster in northern Los Angeles County, had an extensive criminal record dating to 1972 that included assault with a deadly weapon and a restraining order taken out by a co-worker.
Schlager had many ties to San Bernardino and once lived just a few blocks from the restaurant, Burguan said.
