A shooting at a Seal Beach, California hair salon has claimed the lives of eight victims and critically injured one more.
When Seal Beach police first arrived on the scene at Salon Meritage, six were confirmed dead. Three people were transported to Long Beach Memorial Hospital, but two of them died of their wounds shortly after their transfer.
In a press conference, Sgt. Steve Bowles of the Seal Beach Police Department confirmed that a suspect was taken into police custody less than half a mile away from the scene of the crime. The suspect, a white male, was cooperative when police detained him. Local television feeds showed police putting the man in a police car, shirt open in the front and a calm look on his face. Bowles could not confirm his name or residence.
Multiple weapons were also seized when the suspect was detained, although it’s not yet known whether he used more than one weapon during the attack.
While Bowles did not confirm the kind of vehicle the suspect was picked up in, a KCAL 9 camera focused for a time on a white, four-door pick up truck surrounded by police officers.
According to Bowles, every station at the salon was occupied at the time of the shooting, and there were victims throughout the entire interior. He emphasized, however, that the victims’ identities were not known at the time of the press conference and encouraged community members to call authorities at 562-799-4100 if they suspect their family members were at the salon today.
Bullet entry wounds appeared to be « on all different locations » of the victims’ bodies, according to Bowles. Police are interviewing the survivors who escaped the salon without harm.
Los Alamitos-Seal Beach Patch was able to get a statement from the husband of salon employee Kathy McGhee, who revealed that the alleged gunman had just lost a custody battle with a salon employee after a recent divorce. Kathy McGhee was at the salon when the shooting happened but managed to survive because she locked herself in a back room.
On air, KCAL 9 reported that the suspect was ex-military and was wearing body armor during the attack and at the time of his arrest.
Tanya, a caller into KFI 640AM, claimed to have insight on the man found shot in a car in the parking lot. She claims that the man was targeted by the suspect when he was leaving the salon simply because he had parked his car next to the suspect’s car. Police have not confirmed this report.
Multiple police agencies have joined the Seal Beach Police Department to support the investigation: Los Alamitos police, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Long Beach police and the Huntington Beach police are just a few of them.
Here’s background on the Southern California beach community, from the Associated Press:
The city had only one homicide last year and none during the previous three years, according to statistics compiled by the Police Department.
The quiet beachfront city of approximately 25,000 residents identifies itself as the Gateway to Southern California’s Orange County and is located about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
It is home to Leisure World, a gated senior citizen community of 9,000 people, as well as the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station military complex. Two-thirds of the city’s 13.23 square miles are occupied by the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge.
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