"They had been having bitter problems for years ostrich feathers hair extensions and I guess he just went in there and started shooting," said Lydia Sosa, who left Salon Meritage to open her own business but remained close with its owner, Randy Fannin. So did Sosa's business partner, Tammy Hetzel, who said the couple's problems were well-known among employees.
Cindy Spinosa, 51, who works at a nearby business, said she heard a siren around the time of the shooting.
"After that one of my co-workers got a phone call from her nephew," Spinosa said. "He was outdoors when the suspect got into his truck and took off."
The rampage rattled the community and people who witnessed the shooting and its aftermath. More than four hours later, a police officer escorted a woman who cheap hair extensions was crying and shaking past crime-scene tape and to her car.
"It's a little disarming," she said. "This is such a quiet community. We don't expect things like this."
Relatives of victims were taken to a nearby spiritual center.
Seal Beach has seen just one other homicide in the past four years, and Bowles said Wednesday's killings were the greatest tragedy to ever strike the seaside town.
"Seal Beach is a small, safe community. We don't experience these things, ever," he said.
The normally quiet community of about 25,000 boasts on its website that it has "retained its quaint, small-town atmosphere" since it was founded in feather earrings for sale 1915.
The 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 city is also home to numerous salons, Criswell said, and most employees know each other.
"A lot of these people have worked together for years and they loved working there," she said of the people at Salon Meritage.
