Three people were killed after a gunman opened fire late Wednesday at a bikers' bar in California's Orange County, and the shooter was killed by authorities, the local sheriff's office said.

Six other people were hospitalized, five of them with gunshot wounds, after the incident at the Cook's Corner bar in Trabuco Canyon, the Orange County Sheriff said in a post on X.

The county's fire department said two people were in critical condition, according to a news briefing.

CBS Los Angeles, which first reported the shooting, initially said five people were killed. Citing KCAL News, CBS said the incident started as a domestic dispute between a retired law enforcement officer and his wife.

The Sheriff's office did not provide additional details about the incident to Reuters, but said they were investigating the possibility of the gunman being a retired officer.

The California governor's office said it was monitoring the shooting.

Authorities received reports of a shooting at 7:04 p.m. local time (0204 GMT Thursday). By 7:08, the gunman was shot and at least one weapon was recovered at the scene.

(Reporting by Lavanya Ahire in Bengaluru and Neil Fullick; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Michael Perry and Bernadette Baum)