Photo by Gene Blevins
AP

A Los Angeles police officer leads away a handcuffed man after a church festival shooting in Granada Hills. Three people were injured in the Saturday shooting.

Photo by Gene Blevins
AP

Los Angeles police officers examine the scene for evidence.

LOS ANGELES — A man with a semiautomatic rifle opened fire at a church festival Saturday, wounding his ex-wife and two bystanders before several festivalgoers grabbed him, wrestled his gun away and held him for police, witnesses and authorities said.

Witnesses described a chaotic scene, with people screaming and running for the exit after gunfire rang out on a grassy field where the festival was being set up at the St. John Baptist de la Salle Roman Catholic parish just before 11 a.m.

"I heard bang, bang, bang, bang. It sounded like balloons popping," said Jeff Sempelsz, a church volunteer who was setting up a prize booth when the man started shooting. "I didn't know what it was but I could see the rifle in his hand."

The man's 30-year-old ex-wife, a church volunteer, was wounded in the arm. A 45-year-old man was hit in the chest and a 47-year-old man was wounded in the leg.

The woman and the man with the leg wound were hospitalized and listed in stable condition. The man with the chest wound was listed in critical condition. Their names weren't released.

"We believe this is an isolated incident, a domestic-violence dispute," said police Capt. Steven Ruiz.

The man, whose identity was not immediately released, has a child who attends the church school but has had an ongoing dispute with the mother, Ruiz said.

The church's pastor, Father Robert Milbauer, said the festival was about 10 minutes from opening and about 50 volunteers, some accompanied by their children, were busy setting up food and game booths and carnival-style rides when the gunfire began.

"I was walking toward the festival area to say an opening prayer," Milbauer said.

Sempelsz said another church volunteer grabbed the man and began struggling for the gun. The shooter managed to point the weapon at that man's face, Sempelsz said, before he jumped in to help and managed to wrestle it away.

As he did, several other people, including an off-duty police officer from Burbank, subdued the man. Still another off-duty officer from Los Angeles produced a pair of handcuffs and the group held the man until more than a dozen uniformed officers arrived.

As the drama was unfolding, security guard William Griffin, who was watching the festival entrance, said dozens of people suddenly came running.

"I heard someone yell, Somebody's shooting. Somebody's shooting.' I turned and saw a man with a long rifle. He was very calm," Griffin said.

The guard said he quickly began herding people into the church, then began locking the doors. The man who had been shot in the leg calmly limped in with the others, he said.

Sempelsz said he knows the shooter but declined to reveal the man's name.

The annual festival was shut down for the day and grief counselors arrived at the church to meet with the children and others. Milbauer said parishioners planned to say a prayer for the victims at Mass.

The parish also plans to go ahead with the second day of the festival today, Milbauer said, in part to help parishioners put the tragedy behind them.

The church and school are located in the city's Granada Hills area in the San Fernando Valley. The congregation counts about 4,200 families as members.

Until Saturday the 21-year-old event had never been the scene of violence, said Jerry Eckel, 62, a secretary in the religious education department.

"I'm just really shocked because I have been a member of the parish since I was 16 years old," she said. "I grew up there. It's home to us."