8 killed in salon shooting in California

8 killed in salon shooting

Associated Press

SEAL BEACH, Calif.

A gunman opened fire Wednesday in a busy hair salon, killing eight people and critically wounding another while leaving 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 after opening fire about 1:30 p.m. 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 trying to determine the motive for the killings.

Seal Beach has seen just one other homicide in the past four years.

Police responding to a report of shots fired found six people dead and three wounded. Two of those three died at a hospital. The other person was listed in critical condition.

Bowles said bodies of the victims were scattered throughout the salon, along with two of the wounded. The other wounded person, a man, was found outside the building.

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.

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.