Ex-Wife of Suspect in Salon Shooting Claimed Mental Illness, Abuse
- Posted on October 13, 2011 at 8:01pm by
Tiffany Gabbay
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SEAL BEACH, Calif. (The Blaze/AP) — The ex-wife of the man suspected of killing eight people in a shooting rampage at a hair salon claimed in court papers filed this year that he was mentally unstable and had threatened to kill himself or someone else at least once.
Michelle Fournier Dekraai made the allegations in May in a filing related to her long-running, bitter custody battle with Scott Dekraai over their 7-year-old son.
There was no sign that she had filed a restraining order, but a relative of Scott Dekraai said Michelle told her that he had walked into the Meritage Salon as recently as two months ago and threatened to kill Michelle and her co-workers.
Police say Scott Dekraai opened fire Wednesday afternoon in the salon, where his ex-wife worked, and was arrested soon after. On Tuesday he had been in court for a hearing related to the custody dispute.
Police have not released information about the victims and it‘s unclear if Dekraai’s ex-wife is among them, but witnesses say she was at the salon when the gunman barged in and began shooting.
The couple divorced in 2007, and Scott Dekraai remarried, but the battle over their son continued to rage. Michelle Fournier Dekraai wrote in the court papers that her ex-husband was “almost manic when it comes to demanding absolute right to control our son and make unilateral decisions.”
She wrote that giving Scott Dekraai more custody of their child would be lead to “a situation where the inmates are running the asylum.”
Sharyn White, a step-aunt of Scott Dekraai and a friend of Michelle’s, said Michelle previously told her that Scott had walked into the salon and threatened to kill Fournier and others. White said that according to Michelle, her colleagues and the customers in the salon laughed off the threat.
White, of Seal Beach, said in a telephone interview that Scott Dekraai had a troubled upbringing and grappled with mental illness.
Michelle Dekraai wrote in the court filing that her ex-husband had been physically abusive to her during their marriage, and that in 2008 he beat his stepfather, pleaded guilty to assault and battery and underwent a year of anger management.
A temporary restraining order obtained by Scott Dekraai’s stepfather in 2007 said that Dekraai attacked
him that year, leaving him with cuts and bruises on his face and right arm. It said Dekraai’s son witnessed the attack.
Michelle Dekraai also alleged that her ex-husband called 911 at least once “advised that he was going to kill himself or someone else.“ She wrote that he ”is a diagnosed bipolar individual who has problems with his own medication and his reaction to same, and he certainly shouldn‘t be allowed to have unilateral and unfettered control of any and all medical and psychological aspects of our son’s life.”
In his own court filing, Scott Dekraai alleged that his ex-wife had a drinking problem, saying she was talking loudly and slurring words at their son’s Little League baseball game earlier this year and that her breath smelled of alcohol when he picked up his son from her house one time last year.
He told the court in 2008 that he wanted to communicate with his ex-wife only by email because she was verbally abusive, and that she used an expletive word in place of his name.
Lydia Sosa, a hairstylist who worked at the salon until about two years ago, said Michelle Dekraai spoke often of her “bitter” problems with her ex-husband.
Scott Dekraai’s neighbors in Huntington Beach also were aware of the custody battle. They described him as an outgoing man who invited them over for pool parties and played catch with his son in his yard.
“It was a very difficult battle and he was trying to get more time” with his son, said Jo Cornhall, who lives across the street from Dekraai.
Next-door neighbor Stephanie Malchow, 29, said she was shocked when she saw the photo of the stocky man with thinning hair being detained by Seal Beach police.
“I’m like, `No, not this neighbor, no way. He’s the nicest guy ever,’” Malchow said.
Six women and two men were killed in the shooting. Their identities were not officially released, but owner Randy Fannin’s niece, Tami Scarcella, told the Los Angeles Times her uncle was among the dead.
Wednesday was a busy afternoon at the salon and every hair-dressing station was full. Terrified customers dove for cover as the gunman opened fire in the shop blocks from the beach in this quaint seaside town.
The shooter stepped outside, shot a man sitting in a truck in the parking lot and sped off.
Police arrested Dekraai, 41, about a half-mile from the scene. He did not struggle, police said
A woman who was wounded in the rampage remained in critical condition Thursday, police said. Sgt. Steve Bowles said the woman was showing some signs of improvement. Her name was not released.
The crime scene tape around the salon was gone early Thursday, with blinds on the side windows drawn and black plastic bags taped over the front windows and door.
A memorial to the victims early Thursday started with two candles, some pink hibiscus blooms and a handwritten poem called “The Day After.”
ABC News provides a report:
Written on line notebook paper and signed only Laurie, it was “dedicated to all who lost and a most precious Seal Beach that didn’t deserve this carnage.”
Mary Stearns of Huntington Beach came by to show her respects and leave a red candle. She knew Fannin, the salon owner, for more than 30 years, following him to three different salons over the years to get her hair done every eight weeks.
“I was going to have him over for Christmas. I just saw him on Saturday. I had a bottle of wine I brought back from Australia. He loved wine,” she said.
The mass shooting was the worst in Orange County history since July 12, 1976, when a custodian killed seven people and wounded two others at California State University, Fullerton. Seal Beach had seen just one homicide in the four years before Wednesday.
Scott Dekraai was seeking full custody of the couple’s son but a court-ordered review recommended against that, John Cate Jr., the attorney for Michelle Dekraai, told the Orange County Register.
Dekraai appeared for a court hearing in the case on Tuesday but it was merely a scheduling meeting, Cate said.
“Obviously, I saw no indication” that he was violent, the attorney said.
Kari Salveson of Los Alamitos, who attended a service for the victims at SeaCoast Grace Church in Seal Beach, said she had known Michelle Dekraai for more than 10 years, and that she made every visit to the salon special.
“She could gab away. She was one of those girlfriends you could never get enough of. She made you smile and she made you laugh,” Salveson said.
Scott Dekraai married his current wife two or three years ago in his backyard, said his neighbor Malchow, who attended the wedding.
“He seemed very happy, he was just so happy he found someone new who loved his son,” she said.
Dekraai walked with a limp after a tug boat accident that killed a fellow tug boat operator about two miles off the coast in 2007.
The area where the shootings took place is dotted with salons, restaurants, antique shops and boutiques clustered just blocks from a beach and pier popular with teenagers and young families. Many residents live and work within walking distance of the ocean and many businesses cater to Leisure World, a gated retirement community a few miles away that is home to 9,000 people.
“It’s like Mayberry in the middle of Los Angeles,” said Doyle Surratt, lead pastor of SeaCoast Grace Church.
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Comments (46)
bkfirvine
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 11:10amIt’s easy to see why this charming gentleman was able to get at least two women to marry him, isn’t it?!….Isn’t it?….What, no one agrees with me?
Report Post »lembrandt
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 8:43amI think the latest poll indicated that roughly 35% of Americans are against the death penalty – that is just *one more* indication of how screwed up we are as a society…if this guy doesn’t deserve to die, who does?
He should be fed into a wood chipper, slowly, feet first – instead the people of California and the USA will be forced to pay for his upkeep in prison for the next 40 years or so. Not to mention how much it will cost us in trial and legal expenses.
God help us.
Report Post »NEAF
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 7:49amI saw the cop touching his boobies, sexual harassment.
Report Post »Exile
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 6:49amHe’s got better t!ts than the Barbara McKulsky.
Report Post »Bargis Tryhol
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 6:26amNot only is he a nut case, but is in desperate need of a man-bra!
Report Post »Mil-Dot
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 6:45amYeah right, but also, if the nut was a black guy do you think they would be pasting pictures of his bare chest all over the internet and news media? Hell no they wouldn’t. You would be lucky to even get a mug shot. This is how the media is trying to paint white guys as the real enemy of the people. We know better.
Report Post »nocomment
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 4:55amThis is a horrible tragedy on several levels…
yet…
I also couldn’t help but notice the manboobs right away, along with the cop ‘copping’ a feel…
MAYBE WE’RE ALL JUST GETTING A BIT TOO MUCH INFORMATION STUFFED INTO OUR HEADS EACH DAY… VIA INTERNET/RADIO/TV/ETC.
Report Post »Truthmonster
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 4:05amMaybe he was mad about that bad breast augmentation. Those saggy breats and that hair on his mouth is going to make him a popular man in prison.
Report Post »libertytreecaretaker
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 3:15amDiagnosed Bipolar! And another person who buy CA law can not own a firearm! Everyone in the salon who followed the the gun laws(dead or criticaly injured). The one in the salon not legally able to own a firearm is slaughtering the unarmed sheeple! Thank you Brady Campaign and Governor Brown. You can now chalk up 8 plus a possible 1 more deaths of the inocent dissarmed law abidding!
Liberals are a threat to our national security!
Report Post »ArizonaDex
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 5:00amGun laws??? you do realize that anyone can get a gun, just go down to the local street corner drug dealer and ask. Gun laws are useless and put in place by politicians that think that law abiding gun owners are the problem instead of the nut cases & gangs that run around not caring who they hurt. I’m sure that if he was diagnosed mentally ill, there would have been no way that he could have legally purchased a firearm.
Report Post »libertytreecaretaker
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 10:40amThats my point!
Report Post »jtm45
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 2:41amkills 8? he just gave obama 2012 re-election
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 12:38amDang he has some hairy man boobs on him and I am wondering why that officer is copping a feel?
Why do men do this? For the life of me are they that insecure that they have to shoot someone to get their way? They also seem not to realize they are the problem. It wasn‘t his wife’s behavior, it was his that caused his issues. Now his 7 year old son, will not only grow up without his dad and if he shot the mother, he won’t have his mother either.
I have a student who’s husband has abused her for twenty years and the last occurrence happened just over a week ago. I have been helping her with things she needs to do especially since she is of Japanese decent and not up on Colorado laws. She has called the police, but they will only arrest him and place him in jail for only one night; like that is going to help. He also owns a gun, still has a key to the home. I told her she needs to change the locks pronto, as he came back to the house around 2am when she is sleeping. Luckily she has a gun for protection, the bad news she does not know how to shoot it. I told her to go take practice and lessons through the college, yes we have a shooting range on campus and we allow Concealed Carry. I am afraid one day I will come to class and find something has happened.
Report Post »eastsideLBC
Posted on October 23, 2011 at 5:51pmkeep in mind his ex wife may be a fake f’ing beatch…. in the story the lady says how she can gab all day…just like everyone on here we dont know these people from adam, but she had to finally push this whack job over the edge…and i do agree he’s a whack job……
Report Post »ed0315
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 12:34amThat’s a pretty bad case of man-boobs going on there.
Report Post »tron824
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 12:19amPleading insanity I see. Classic move to get off on a lighter sentance. Should get the death sentance, but he is in California so he’ll get life in prison.
Report Post »SouthSideLib
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 11:38pmWhere are all the people saying this is a symptom of white culture the way they always do when a black person commits a crime?
Report Post »Mil-Dot
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 6:50amI’ll tell you where they are. They are all around us keeping their mouths shut because they know that “whitey” is not the problem in America. There is an epidemic of black crime perpetrated against white people and it is being shoved under the rug by the media. The black man is out of control and everybody knows it. So, the folks are out there, they are just not stupid.
Report Post »cromag11b
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 10:20amMil-Dot:
Report Post »And yet every mass killing of innocent bystanders is some out of touch white guy. Go team.
SouthSideLib
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 11:57amSeriously? This is an article about a white man murdering six people and you’re complaining about some black people getting into a fight. Swept under the rug by the media? This site posts stories on a regular basis of very minor events that have no business being reported as national news. The only motive I can see for this is to stir up racists like you.
Report Post »dontbotherme
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 11:30pmGod, please have mercy & bless the families & friends of all of those killed and injured. It is blatantly obvious that this animal killed all of those people. When I think of all of the time & money it’s going to take for a trial it frustrates me to no end. I wish our justice system was more swift.
Report Post »Tractorboy
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 11:29pmGod bless those poor souls, may they rest in peace.
Report Post »herekittykitty
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 11:05pmHairy moobs. Disgusting.
Report Post »WASP
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 10:42pmHis testosterone levels are low…He shulda been takin’ his zinc…
Report Post »dnnyshdy
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 10:48pmude needs a bra and an injection.
Report Post »Talmid of Yeshua
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 10:38pmAnd I”m sure we are only hearing the woman’s side of the story. Women, in divorce, are very spiteful, using the kids as weapons, taking the man to the cleaners, etc.
This is what happens when marriage stops being a religious institution, and instead becomes a state institution.
No fault marriages, child support, and attorneys have created a mess in this country.
Yeshua, and the Torah, teach the only reason for divorce is adultery. And a case can be made, based on Scripture, that abandonment and REAL abuse may also be grounds for divorce.
But women scream abuse now all the time, crying wolf, and it’s not true many times. If you don’t give a woman a credit card to rack up debt in your family, she can scream abuse.. and the liberals will decry the husband.
It’s time for woman to get back to their rightful place in marriage: An equal, but subservient position.
Report Post »dontbotherme
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 11:24pmTalmid; This situation has absolutely nothing to do with the type of inane comments you made here & if you read any of the report or listened to the video you would know that. Read the rest of the Scripture you have misinterpreted. Your personal anger is misdirected here. This animal killed at least 8 people in cold blood. HE IS SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS OWN CRIME & HIS OWN SINS.
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 12:43amAre you just dumb or did your momma drop you on your head or both?
Just like a clueless man to say something so insensitive. Maybe you haven’t read my post made a few moments ago, but I have a student‘s who’s wonderful husband got so mad that he kicked her in the back.
Report Post »watashbuddyfriend
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 8:37amI like your message!
Report Post »happy2behere
Posted on October 14, 2011 at 11:30amOh my. This post MIGHT be OK in another time and place, but in this thread it implies a moral equivalance where there is none. BECAUSE NO ONE DESERVES TO BE SHOT. And this moral equivalance argument is so inappropriate that it is outrageous. I fear for any woman around Talmid.
Report Post »ijava44
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 10:21pmLook at the rack on that one! OOPS
Report Post »themanchildmustgo
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 10:09pmThis guy has some serious mits!!!!!! Cop seems interested in one of them LMAO
Report Post »headbtweenlegs
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 10:09pmIts not the Bra its the Bro..
Report Post »SouthSideLib
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 11:47pmManzirre!!
Report Post »chips1
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 9:30pmMichael Jackson had surgery to look like Diana Ross and this guy is having surgery to look like Pelosi. WTF!!!!!
Report Post »Indymaverick
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 9:29pmHa ha. Man boobs.
Report Post »Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 10:02pmmoobs!
Report Post »metalurgy
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 9:14pmWhy is that cop grabbing for the killers man boobs, “copping” a feel?
Report Post »This_Individual
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 9:55pmHAHA! That is disgusting, isn’t it? I’m buying some weights tomorrow!
Report Post »blazingaway
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 8:14pmAnother person who should just be executed immediately … I don’t care why he did it or what his mental state of mind is, was or will be. He did it because he wanted to and no one forced him to … therefore, immediately kill him and lets set and example out of him and move on.
Report Post »bill jones
Posted on October 13, 2011 at 9:01pmYou’re dead right!
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