(CNN) — Wedding guests were gathering on the dance floor at a New Hampshire country club Saturday evening when the DJ warned the room to expect some loud noises from a dish-breaking tradition popular at Greek weddings.

But the anticipated sounds of celebration and shattering plates were interrupted by popping noises in the next room, witnesses said.

“It sounded like balloons, because, you know, we’re at a festivity … but then you look around and we didn’t have balloons,” wedding guest Tom Bartelson told CNN affiliate WHDH .

The guests quickly realized the noise was gunshots being fired by a man in the club’s restaurant and began to scatter for safety. Some went out the door or into the kitchen, others took cover under tables, witnesses said.

59-year-old Robert Steven DeCesare was ki

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