henric
10-13-2011, 12:46 AM
12/10/2011 7:34:10 PM
The Associated Press
Six people were killed and three critically wounded Wednesday when a gunman opened fire in a busy hair salon, leaving victims' bodies scattered throughout the business in a normally sedate Southern California beach community.
The gunman got into a car and drove away from Salon Meritage. He was stopped by officers about a half-mile away and surrendered without incident, said police Sgt. Steve Bowles.
His name was not immediately released.
Police were struggling to determine the motive for the killings.
"There may be something to the motive as to a relationship with somebody in the salon, that is our assumption," Bowles said.
Seal Beach has seen just one other homicide in the past four years.
Bowles said the bodies of the six people who were killed were scattered throughout the salon, along with two of the wounded. The other wounded person, a man, was found outside the building. It wasn't clear if he was trying to flee when he was shot.
"We're unsure at this point if he shot from the entrance and people, as they were shot, ran in seeking cover or seeking shelter, but we have fatalities throughout the salon," Bowles told reporters at a news conference outside the business.
"From my observation, it did look like people were seeking shelter at the time," he said.
He said the salon was busy at the time, with every hair-dressing station in operation.
He didn't know what type of weapon was used or if the man used more than one.
Salon employee Lorainne Bruielle, who wasn't working Wednesday, told the Long Beach Press-Telegram the gunman was the husband of another employee.
Bruielle said she talked to the husband of one of the employees involved, who said one employee locked herself in the salon's facial room and was unharmed while another man locked himself in a bathroom but was wounded.
The suspect was co-operative when officers, following a description of the shooter, stopped him nearby. He told them he had multiple weapons in his car, Bowles said.
The killings stunned this normally quiet community of about 25,000 that boasts on its website that it has "retained its quaint, small-town atmosphere" since it was founded in 1915.
Relatives of victims in the salon shooting were being taken to a nearby spiritual centre....
The Associated Press
Six people were killed and three critically wounded Wednesday when a gunman opened fire in a busy hair salon, leaving victims' bodies scattered throughout the business in a normally sedate Southern California beach community.
The gunman got into a car and drove away from Salon Meritage. He was stopped by officers about a half-mile away and surrendered without incident, said police Sgt. Steve Bowles.
His name was not immediately released.
Police were struggling to determine the motive for the killings.
"There may be something to the motive as to a relationship with somebody in the salon, that is our assumption," Bowles said.
Seal Beach has seen just one other homicide in the past four years.
Bowles said the bodies of the six people who were killed were scattered throughout the salon, along with two of the wounded. The other wounded person, a man, was found outside the building. It wasn't clear if he was trying to flee when he was shot.
"We're unsure at this point if he shot from the entrance and people, as they were shot, ran in seeking cover or seeking shelter, but we have fatalities throughout the salon," Bowles told reporters at a news conference outside the business.
"From my observation, it did look like people were seeking shelter at the time," he said.
He said the salon was busy at the time, with every hair-dressing station in operation.
He didn't know what type of weapon was used or if the man used more than one.
Salon employee Lorainne Bruielle, who wasn't working Wednesday, told the Long Beach Press-Telegram the gunman was the husband of another employee.
Bruielle said she talked to the husband of one of the employees involved, who said one employee locked herself in the salon's facial room and was unharmed while another man locked himself in a bathroom but was wounded.
The suspect was co-operative when officers, following a description of the shooter, stopped him nearby. He told them he had multiple weapons in his car, Bowles said.
The killings stunned this normally quiet community of about 25,000 that boasts on its website that it has "retained its quaint, small-town atmosphere" since it was founded in 1915.
Relatives of victims in the salon shooting were being taken to a nearby spiritual centre....