Seal Beach, a quiet beach town on the California coast, was the scene of a violent Seal Beach hair salon called Salon Meritage which left eight dead while another three were taken to the local hospital in critical condition. Police said that a ninth victim is in critical condition at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.
Reportedly, the shooting began around 1:20 p.m. in the 500 block of Pacific Coast Highway. According to one employee Kathy McGhee, the salon was completely full when the man began shooting. The man shoot at anybody he saw in the salon and both customers and employees were among the dead. The police arrived a minute after receiving the call from employee Kathy McGhee and her husband. Inside the salon, police found six people dead, including owner Randy Fannin. Another three wounded people include two men and a 73-year-old woman.
A gunman opened fire inside the crowded Seal Beach beauty salon in the 500 block of Pacific Coast Highway on Wednesday on Oct. 12, 2011
Police said that it was a mass shooting at a beauty salon
A woman who was sitting in the chair getting her hair done by Fannin said, “We thought it was maybe firecrackers. But he just didn’t stop. Anybody he saw he was shooting” and “It went boom, boom, boom. I was afraid he was going to shoot everybody”. Later, Police Sgt. Steve Bowles said bodies of the victims were scattered throughout the salon. Police has arrested a white male suspect less than a half a mile away from the hair salon. He has weapons strewn across the floorboard and guns strapped to his body. Although authorities said that the man’s motives are under investigation, the alleged gunman was the ex-husband of a salon employee named Michelle and the two have been divorced. He was also identified was Scott DeKraii of Long Beach, who worked in sportfishing.
Seal Beach, which is located about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles, is home to more than 25,000 citizens and known as “Gateway to Southern California’s Orange County”
A policeman talks to onlookers near the salon where eight people were killed and three were wounded in Seal Beach, California
Friends and acquaintances are left in shock after the tragic shooting in Seal Beach, CA
Police officers stand with the suspected man near the Salon Meritage in Seal Beach
Bystanders observe the scene outside the Salon Meritage in Seal Beach, Califonia
The police blockaded the site where six people were killed and three were wounded in a shooting at the hair salon
The shooting occurred at Salon Meritage on Pacific Coast Highway. KTLA reports that the suspect was wearing body armor.
Toll rises to 8 dead in California salon shooting
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Seal Beach CA Hair Salon Shooting: Eight Dead and Three Injured