SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Reuters) - A shootout at a California shooting range ended a
bizarre hostage drama during which three gun store employees found themselves staring down the barrel of one of their own rented rifles, police said Tuesday.

Sgt. Anton Morec of the Santa Clara Police Department said the aspiring gunman,
21-year-old Richard Gable Stevens, was subdued after tense moments Monday evening at a shooting range and gun store in this town 30 miles (48 km) south of San Francisco.

"He intended to go out in a blaze of glory," Morec said, noting Stevens had accumulated more than 100 rounds of ammunition for his rented 9mm semi-automatic weapon.

"It certainly looks like he intended to take a lot more people out."

Morec said Stevens arrived at the National Shooting Club Monday evening and rented
the rifle for target practice. The club allows people to rent a range of weapons for use on its own shooting range.

After several minutes on the range, however, Stevens returned to the club's gun store and shot at the ceiling. He then herded three store employees out the door into an alley, saying he intended to kill them, Morec said.

Unknown to Stevens, one store employee was carrying a .45 caliber handgun concealed beneath his shirt. When Stevens looked away, the employee fired, hitting Stevens several times in the chest and bringing him to the ground.

The employee kept his gun trained on Stevens until police arrived, Morec said. When
Stevens refused to comply with police demands that he show his hands, he was shot again with several rounds of rubber bullets.

Morec said Stevens was taken to a hospital where he was listed in critical condition from the initial gun wounds. Criminal charges against him were pending.

Police investigating the case believed the quick action by the gun club employee may have headed off a massacre.

"He was full of rage, and felt he was getting no respect," Morec said. A suicide note found in Stevens' vehicle and addressed to his parents indicated he may have planned to go on a much broader shooting spree, Morec said.

"Now you'll spend the rest of your lives fighting lawsuits from my victims' relatives and die with only dimes perhaps," Morec quoted the note as saying.