Off-Duty Cop Arrested in Bar Shooting
The victim was a 36-year-old Samuel Vanettes, officials say.

By David Leonard
December 22, 2011

An off-duty deputy fatally shot a man in a bar on the border of Murrieta and Temecula.

Murrieta police responded shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday to a shooting call at Spelly’s Bar and Grille on Murrieta Hot Springs Road.

Winchester resident Samuel Vanettes, 36, was found suffering with multiple gunshot wounds and died on the scene, the sheriff's coroner reported.

The bar shooter, an off-duty Riverside County sheriff’s deputy, surrendered himself to police without a struggle at the front door, Lt. Tony Conrad said.

The suspect, sheriff's Deputy Dayle Long, 42, was detained and transferred to Murrieta police headquarters for questioning, sheriff's Sgt. Joe Borja said today.

The deputy worked for the Sheriff's Court Services West Division, but did not work in the Southwest Detention Center in French Valley, Borja said.

Witness from inside

Police shut down the pub’s parking lot and moved about 30 witnesses who were inside at the time of the shooting to a nearby Starbucks for questioning.

Chris Hull, a 39-year-old Temecula resident, said he was inside the bar and saw the shooting happen.

Hull said he witnessed a man walking up while Hull and a group of friends were playing darts. The man reportedly identified himself as an off-duty cop and started a discussion with the group about darts.

“We were playing darts, and he says 'I’m better at darts than you are,”' Hull said.

“My buddy says, ‘Aw, you suck at darts.’ (The man) says, ‘That’s why I’m a cop, I can do whatever I want to do.’”

Hull said his friend, identified only as Danny, asked the man, “Really, you can do anything?” The man then pulled out his gun, Hull said, and after the group repeatedly asked him to put it away he “pops three rounds into my friend Sam.”

Hull identified his friend as Sam Venettes. He didn't answer a request for Vanette's age or hometown, but said he was a "hardworking guy" who "works three jobs."

Police have not released any information on the name of the victim.

"I just watched the most horrific scene I've seen in my entire life," Hull told Patch.

"This is the worst day of my life."