Club Manager Shot to Death, 3 Others Hurt

A gunman fired a rifle across the parking lot of a popular Lancaster nightclub early Sunday morning, killing one of the club’s managers and injuring an owner, another employee and a customer, authorities and the club’s management said.

The shooting occurred shortly after 12:30 a.m. outside Schooners, a restaurant, bar and nightclub in a shopping center in the 43800 block of 15th Street West.

The victims were taken to nearby hospitals.

Marshall Garrison, 50, was pronounced dead from wounds to his torso.

The other three victims are expected to survive, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Sonia Parra.

The unidentified gunman fired from across the parking lot, possibly from the direction of a medical clinic, authorities and employees said. Bullets pierced the glass of the restaurant’s front door.

The motive for the shooting is under investigation. No arrests were made.

Authorities did not release the names of the wounded, but employees said one of them was Patrick O’Donnell, one of Schooners’ owners.

Garrison booked entertainment at the nightclub and produced concerts in the Antelope Valley and at county fairs throughout California.

In the 1980s, Garrison was a road manager for the heavy-metal band Iron Maiden, fellow Schooners manager Jonny Wenino said.

“Anything that had to do with live entertainment, or bands, Marshall had a hand in bringing it here,” Wenino said.

Schooners is a family restaurant and nightclub with sawdust on the floor and a bar with dozens of televisions, usually tuned to sports. Saturday night was “club night,” with a deejay playing music and several hundred people dancing.

Employees and nightclub regulars said they were shocked by the shooting. In the establishment’s 17 years, they could not remember anything more violent than a few bar brawls.

“Inside we have very tight security,” Wenino said.

Outside, where the four men were shot, is more difficult to control, he said.

“I would never have expected it to happen here,” one customer said. “It’s too friendly.”