Crime

California: Death Toll Rises to 8 in Beauty Salon Shooting Rampage

California: Gunman Reportedly Kills 8 in Beauty Salon Shooting

THIS REPORT HAS BEEN UPDATED:

SEAL BEACH, Calif. (The Blaze/AP) 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.

California: Gunman Reportedly Kills 8 in Beauty Salon ShootingThe 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 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.


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. It wasn’t clear if he was trying to flee when he was shot or if he was the one survivor.

“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 cooperative when officers, following a description of the shooter, stopped him nearby. He told them he had multiple weapons in his car, Bowles said.

TV news video showed the man, in handcuffs, being placed in a patrol car and taken away about two-and-a-half hours after the shooting. A new white pickup truck that was believed to be his was parked on the modest residential street with its doors open.

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.

Several visibly distressed people stood near the scene talking on cellphones or to police shortly after the shootings. They declined to be interviewed.

“All I heard was a siren and then after that one of my co-workers got a phone call from her nephew. He was outdoors when the suspect got into his truck and took off,” said Cindy Spinosa, 51, who works at a nearby business.

“It’s a little disarming,” she said. “This is such a quiet community. We don’t expect things like this.”

Relatives of victims in the salon shooting were being taken to a nearby spiritual center.

“Obviously, a crime of this magnitude is something that Seal Beach is not familiar with,” Bowles told reporters.

The quiet beachfront city 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.

The most common crime reported in Seal Beach last year was larceny, with 368 cases reported. There were four rapes reported in 2010, up from two the previous year. There were six robberies, up from 11 the previous year, and 71 assaults, down from 89 the previous year.

California: Gunman Reportedly Kills 8 in Beauty Salon Shooting

Comments (165)

  • garbagecanlogic
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 6:04pm

    Someone forgot to tell them that Jerry (The Hippie, Marijuana Smokin) Brown just signed into law saying “yo can’t go carryin a gun around town”!

    The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
    The U.N. Out Of The U.S.

    Report Post »  
    • lukerw
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 6:12pm

      Just like in Chicago… do not attempt to defend yourself… just call the Police. The Nanny State sucks!

      Report Post » lukerw  
    • dr_funk
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 6:30pm

      Just after they decide to ban open carry…

      Oh, those California congressmen are GENIUSES…geniuses, I tell you…

      Report Post »  
    • This_Individual
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 6:31pm

      We can carry. We just can‘t show everyone we’re packin’. By the way, that law is useless anyway as we weren’t allowed to carry a loaded weapon (legally :) ) anyway (concealed or not).

      Report Post »  
    • ChiefGeorge
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 6:32pm

      Very sad when this sort of thing happens. Too bad he could not have been stopped on the site by someone armed and responsible.

      Report Post » ChiefGeorge  
    • godlovinmom
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 6:48pm

      What is going on here in America..we had a shooting in my little town this morning…God have mercy.

      Report Post » godlovinmom  
    • SavingtheRepublic.com
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 6:54pm

      ~^~v~~^~~v~^~
      Yea I was about to say that. Maybe if this progressive state wasnt so busy disarming law abiding people MAYBE just maybe there would have been somenone there to stop the shooter.

      Proggies think by passing more restrictive gun laws will end crime. They cease to understand criminals do not obey the law. Common sense says enforce whats already on the books better yet go ahead and pass new gun laws with the most harshest punishment possible for committing a crime with a gun. No no that makes too much sense, no they think gun free zones, banning carrying unloaded weapons in public will solve the problem!

      Remember what starts in CA so goes the rest of the nation! Its all part of the plan dont you know to of course disarm us, welcome a financial collapse have anarchy in the streets so we run to a leader (tyrant in disguise) to make it better. This folks is how you get to Emperor Obama and the lefts dream of “fundamentally transforming the USA”. Get out of the Matrix, play your game TAPGW http://tinyurl.com/yhglscs

      Report Post » SavingtheRepublic.com  
    • rangerp
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 7:02pm

      Uncle Joe Bidden warned us this would happen if we do not pass the annointed ones Jobs Bill

      Report Post » rangerp  
    • Anonymous_User
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 7:38pm

      SAVINGTHEREPUBLIC.COM made some good points and is absolutely correct.
      I support tighter gun control because the majority of gun owners are nut-cases who think that every instance of chaos calls for a rise to arms. 1 in 32 Americans are under correctional supervision. There are more who haven’t been caught too. Those who seem sane are not, and those who are not are.
      Irregardless of my previous statement(s) violence is inevitable and carrying a gun doesn’t necessarily mean that you are going to be able to think on your feet and draw it like a cowboy. That requires stress training. Chances are it is all going to happen faster than you know it is coming. Does this mean I am against carrying? No, because there may be an instance when it is necessary. I am against selling guns to people just because they have no criminal record and appear to be fine.

      Report Post »  
    • Nlitend1
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 7:48pm

      I am pro 2nd amendment and a member of the NRA, but some restrictions are fine. I don’t carry all of the time, and I like that I don’t feel the need to. That being said, open carry was pointless and beauty salon patrons in suburbia don‘t carry guns and wouldn’t if they could…ever. This sounds like a horrible incident that doesn’t require a pro-guns diatribe. Is the 2nd amendment really an argument anymore? D‘s and R’s are not very different on this issue anymore…if you disagree, I would be interested in hearing what potentially new gun control measures you are concerned with.

      Report Post »  
    • Devil Dog 7175
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 8:16pm

      This must be a mistake…Kalifornia does’nt allow the carry of loaded weapons. Moonbeam…look into this.

      Report Post » Devil Dog 7175  
    • CultureWarriors
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 8:47pm

      Yet another violent left wing loon with a gun goes berserk. Those who want gun control should face the facts, it’s a gun in the hands of a liberal that is dangerous.

      Report Post » CultureWarriors  
    • GeorgieJo
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 8:58pm

      I‘m surprized it wasn’t a TANNING salon…..After all MoonheadJerryBrownie just SIGNED into law the “SUN-BEAM” law for Californika.

      Sorry for the victims. Actually I’m sorry for Californika.

      Report Post »  
    • rangerp
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 9:11pm

      Once again, this is a rare occasion. This one of the very few times that libs, progressives, dems, athiests…. all come together, hold hands, and have a prayer meeting.

      they cry out “Dear God, please let the shooter be white, drive a truck, have an NRA sticker, be a Tea Party member, attend Baptist church, be prior military, vote republican. Please, please, please, do not let him be a minority, a muslim, a registered democrat, or have any communist ties”.

      Looks like the libs may be lucky on this one. He is white, and drives a pickup truck.

      It is amazing how libs will spin something. Of all the murders in America, the mass majority are committed by left leaning folks. If we held presidential election in our prisons, we would never get a republican elected.

      It will take one out of ten thousand murders to actually be some conservative fool that went on the nut, and libs will think they are on to something, and start screaming for gun control. they will ignore the tens of thousands of crimes that were stopped by legal gun owners, and will ignore facts that show when a nation outlaws guns, gun violence goes up.

      Report Post » rangerp  
    • poverty.sucks
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 9:26pm

      SB used to be a bitchin place. How time has changed.

      Report Post » poverty.sucks  
    • Buck Shane
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 9:28pm

      @ Nlitend1

      ***Troll Alert***

      Report Post » Buck Shane  
    • Buck Shane
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 9:35pm

      @ Anonymous_User
      Of the 18,000 murders that occurred in this country last year, not one was prevented by the police.

      Report Post » Buck Shane  
    • rangerp
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 9:43pm

      @Nlitend1

      You my friend are very confused. Dems are as anti gun as they ever were. They just learned a lesson. Bill Clinton got his clock cleaned in 94 over his pro gun control. He will admit that the NRA put it to him, and was a defining factor in getting so many republican elected in congress.

      If you think for a minute that Obama, Pelosi, Boxer, Hillary… would not take every gun in American if they could, then you are a fool. They still want them, they are just quiet in their quest.

      Why do you think Sillary stood up and blamed the mexican violence on American Guns. The NRA quickly slapped her jaws, and provided proof that most of the guns in Mexican crime are from awol military and police from mexico. .Just so happens, that months after her jaw flapping, the DOJ and his boys decide to put Fast and Furious in place, to show America that the guns in Mexico are coming from America. Once American agents started dying from these guns being used, the cat ran out of the bag.

      You are not an NRA member, you do not support our second am0endment rights. You are a gun hating lib, trying to run a slick one.

      Report Post » rangerp  
    • ICEDRAGONNITE
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 10:51pm

      They know this guys name they just don’t want us to know. I wonder is it muslim? Makes you go
      HUMMMMMM.

      Report Post » ICEDRAGONNITE  
    • bookofdaniel
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 12:26am

      @Buck Shane
      Had any police officer prevented any murder it would not have been a murder and would not show up on your list you idiot.

      Report Post »  
    • Detroit paperboy
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 3:32am

      When seconds count, the police are minutes away…. Stay armed

      Report Post »  
    • Mgaray9273
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 8:12am

      This is Sad. I , Thank God I live in TN and Have a Hand Gun Carry Permit. We can open Carry if we choose to. We can always have one in the Chamber as well. Sadly, CA is like NY as far as Gun Laws go. Criminals know this all too well.

      Report Post »  
    • UncleRico
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 11:58am

      Tony Soprano really let himself go!

      Report Post » UncleRico  
    • Buck Shane
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 1:16pm

      @ bookofdaniel
      Missed the point, did you? Sarcasm is wasted on certain people who have limited ability to think abstract thoughts. Are you one of those people?

      Report Post » Buck Shane  
  • Meyvn
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 6:04pm

    Bad Haircut?

    Report Post » Meyvn  
    • chips1
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 6:19pm

      Oh what a tangled weave we weave. Must have been a tangled weave involved here somewheres.

      Report Post »  
  • CITIZENCHET
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 6:03pm

    Rumor has it Brad Pitt gets his hair styled there.

    Report Post »  
  • scout n ambush
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 6:02pm

    Bad people commit murder and other crimes with guns good people protect themselves and others with guns if the state allows them .If you allow a community to breed and fill with criminals you will get a large criminal element that will act like cockroaches and at first only coming out in the dark then when conditions are favorable and there is a large number of them they get bold enough to move out in daylight.

    Report Post » scout n ambush  
  • Buck Shane
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 6:00pm

    A person with a gun can’t stop the first shooting. He can‘t stop the shooter if he’s the one who’s shot. However he can significantly reduce the damage in almost any other scenario.
    It will be interesting to see the comments from the anti-self-defense people. Or, more likely, they will not post on this story – which will demonstrate their selective informational input. Then they can say silly things without actually having to understand what they are talking about.

    Report Post » Buck Shane  
  • EZDOZIT
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:59pm

    Liberalism will get you killed!

    Report Post »  
  • This_Individual
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:59pm

    Surprising, Seal Beach is actually a nice area. I feel for the folks that have lost their loved ones.

    Report Post »  
  • bhelmet
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:59pm

    How did this guy get a gun?

    Report Post » bhelmet  
    • apollo18
      Posted on October 13, 2011 at 4:41am

      Probably the same way the wacko at Ft Hood got his: walked into a store, passed his backround check and bought one.

      Gee, where’s Sheriff Dupnik when you need him? Hey Sheriff! Who you gonna blame this one on?

      Fool.

      Report Post »  
  • citizenoftexas
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:55pm

    In California??? No WAY!!! They just passed more restrictive gun laws. How could this be?

    Report Post » citizenoftexas  
    • Lover of America
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 6:30pm

      It happened because we have a state full of “sheeple”. Followers no leaders!

      Report Post »  
    • Timsincali
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 6:40pm

      OH!!!1 The humanity!!! Hey… wait a minute, this report must be incorrect. It is against the law to carry any “gun” in the socialist soviet rebublik of sud kaleeeeeeeeforn YA! Isn’t it?

      Report Post »  
  • just slap me
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:54pm

    The women in Seal Beach are serious about gray coverage.
    Homegirls are packin’.

    Report Post »  
  • just slap me
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:53pm

    Oy vey

    Report Post »  
  • rockstone
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:53pm

    Gotta love that new gun law…..

    Report Post » rockstone  
  • PApeacemaker
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:53pm

    Its a government set up to so they have an excuse to take away concealed carry permits & ban guns out right. Maybe if someone next door had a license hand gun they could have stopped that government hack & put an end to him & saved the tax payers the money of not having a trial & paying his prison bill for 30 years until they kill him.

    Report Post » PApeacemaker  
    • chips1
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 6:17pm

      30 years or until they kill him is pretty much the same thing.

      Report Post »  
  • SgtB
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:52pm

    Wasn’t the armed assailant in some kind of gun free zone!?! How could he have ever gotten a gun into a gun free zone (aka, California, especially in light of recent news)! We need to beef up our anti-gun counter measures. I say that we should all have our own TSA officer who inspects us before we can travel from our home. Then we’d all be safe!

    It’s pretty sick, but I think someone actually thinks like that.

    Report Post » SgtB  
  • bhelmet
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:52pm

    Maybe they thought it was Wall Street?

    Report Post » bhelmet  
  • Thurston Bell
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:51pm

    Perhaps not legislating against the 2nd Amendment, as bared by the USSCT ruling in W. Va. Bd. of Ed. v. Barnette removing all of the BIll of RIghts from the reach of government, could have averted this event.

    NAH!

    Report Post » Thurston Bell  
  • TheDebtWeAllPay
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:49pm

    scary stuff

    Report Post » TheDebtWeAllPay  
  • USA1Patriot
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:48pm

    Is this how the “Deam Act” works?

    Report Post » USA1Patriot  
  • obamasacommie
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:48pm

    Sounds like a preview for Rosanne Barr’s new mobile home show on MSNBC

    Report Post » obamasacommie  
  • USA1Patriot
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:47pm

    Thankfully those tough gun laws prevented the outragous muder of the shooter, by making sure the victims were unarmed and defenseless. The looney left has to be removed and placed in a tight lid can and tossed in the trash..we can worry about the hazardous waste later.

    Report Post » USA1Patriot  
  • Working
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:45pm

    And this happens the day after Moonbeam Brown signs a law banning open carry of guns. He says the ban will help lower violence. How is that working for you Jerry now. Criminals do not care about gun laws as this is shown in this story. I feel sorry for the families of the victims and pray for them

    Report Post »  
    • This_Individual
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:53pm

      I’m not defending the hippie, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, as even though we used to be able to open carry, we weren’t (legally) able to have the weapon loaded.

      Report Post »  
    • libertytreecaretaker
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 6:48pm

      This individual@
      It takes 1 sec longer to load a semi auto handgun vs nothing because 99.9% of CA ccw applications are rejected! We are a may issue state. Thanks to Gov Brown we now are a fish in a barrel state!
      Watch the video and learn before you spew stupidity!
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkbE70mXSGQ&feature=player_detailpage

      Report Post »  
    • This_Individual
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 8:01pm

      LIBERTY, Relax buddy. I was responding to “And this happens the day after Moonbeam Brown signs a law banning open carry of guns”. With all of the rediculous gun laws that we have already, this open carry law was just dotting the i’s & crossing the t’s. Besides, this guy was bent on killing his ex-wife and (unfortunately others too), what does it matter if a law was just passed that doesn’t allow us to open carry?
      Now, if you were privilaged enough to have an open carry permit and were patronizing this salon, you would have not been carrying any ammo with you as it would have remained in your trunk. So the law wouldn’t of mattered one way or the other. And that, my fellow Californian is what we call facts and not spweing stupidity. I hope you‘re as involved as I am in our state’s issues, because we need to kick all of those “aztlan” & socialist twits out of our capitol. I’ve got my senator and rep on speed dial!!!

      Report Post »  
    • libertytreecaretaker
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 11:13pm

      THIS_
      Facts are very important to CA gun owners about gun laws. To get them wrong make you sound ill informed. And you end up miss informing others. UOC did not require a permit. 99.9% of all CA ccw application in CA get rejected. We are a may issue state. Therefore when we do not have an alternative to ccw ,we are being infringed of our secound amendment rights through regulation!
      The cops in this and the majority of cases in CA arrived on scence just in time to put you in a body bag. When secounds count the police are minutes away!

      Report Post »  
  • Voyeurger
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:43pm

    I’ll wager:
    1) Disgruntled husband of an employee at the salon is the shooter
    2) Shooter and wife/hairdresser are immigrants

    Report Post » Voyeurger  
    • avenger
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:47pm

      no custoner or owner had a gun…

      Report Post »  
    • Anonymous_User
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 7:46pm

      @VOYEURGER
      The majority of murders are directly tied to a person the victim personally knows.
      This has no correlation with immigration. I agree with your first statement though.

      Report Post »  
    • Voyeurger
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 8:43pm

      @Anonymous_USER

      I beg to differ. Here in Southern California this (although not on this scale) happens about once a month. Girlfriend/wife wants out, boyfriend/husband decides, “If I can’t have her, nobody will”. Immediate carnage ensues. Almost without fail, Mexican immigrants or their offspring are the perpetrators. I’ll bet you a music CD (any single disc of your choice) from Amazon.com that the perp was a Mexican immigrant (legal or not) or offspring of same.

      Report Post » Voyeurger  
    • ColdDeadHands
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 8:57pm

      You know dat true!

      Report Post » ColdDeadHands  
    • ColdDeadHands
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 9:14pm

      and as a matter of fact, just in from Fox news
      “” wasn’t working Wednesday, told the Long Beach Press-Telegram the gunman was the husband of another employee. His name was not immediately released.”"

      True Dat

      Report Post » ColdDeadHands  
  • pamela kay
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:43pm

    Further proof that the criminals will still have guns when they are banned and that everyday people need them for protection.

    Report Post » pamela kay  
  • SLOWBIDEN
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:40pm

    Nice, and they just banned open carry in cali. I bet if the victims would have been carrying this would not have happened.

    Report Post »  
    • Anonymous_User
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 7:49pm

      With the passage and signing of AB 144 by Govenor Brown, Open Carry of handguns will no longer be legal in most of California effective Jan 1, 2012.
      There is no correlation between someone not having a gun and this incident.

      Report Post »  
    • Voyeurger
      Posted on October 12, 2011 at 8:50pm

      @ANONYMOUS_USER
      No correlation? So you are saying that if the shooter had NOT had guns this would have still taken place? THAT correlates. If the cashier would have had a sawed off shotgun within easy reach, and been trained in its use, THIS MIGHT NEVER HAVE HAPPENED. THAT correlates.
      If you don’t like guns, don‘t friggin’ buy any!
      Sheesh. Where do these people come from?

      Report Post » Voyeurger  
  • oriondma05
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 5:40pm

    Sarah Palin or George Bush. Has to be one of them.

    Report Post » oriondma05  

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