Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas becomes emotional as he speaks during a news conference in Santa Ana, Calif., Friday, Oct. 14, 2011. Southern California prosecutors said Friday they will seek the death penalty for the man they called a "methodical and merciless killer" who stormed through a salon and killed eight people.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas becomes emotional as he speaks during a news conference in Santa Ana, Calif., Friday, Oct. 14, 2011. Southern California prosecutors said Friday they will seek the death penalty for the man they called a "methodical and merciless killer" who stormed through a salon and killed eight people.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
This photo combo shows the people who were killed during a shooting at a salon at Seal Beach, Calif., on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011. On the top row, from left, are Michelle Fournier, Michelle Fast, David Caouette and Christy Lynn Wilson. On bottom row, from left are Laura Lee Elody, Lucia Bernice Kondas, Victoria Ann Buzzo and Randy Lee Fannin. (AP Photo)
Elaine Metz, of Seal Beach. Calif., lights a candle in front of the site where eight people were killed and one was wounded Wednesday in a shooting at Salon Meritage in Seal Beach, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Police officers lead Scott Evans Dekraai to a patrol car after arresting him following a shooting at the nearby Salon Meritage that left eight people dead and one critically injured in Seal Beach, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011. Friends of the salon owner and other employees said Dekraai, 42, was the ex-husband of a stylist who worked there. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
Mourners cry during a vigil in the parking lot in front of Salon Meritage in Seal Beach, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011. About 300 people gathered for a prayer service to honor the memory of eight Seal Beach residents gunned down in a shooting rampage earlier in the week. The Thursday night service preceded a candlelight vigil in the parking lot in front of Salon Meritage, where police say 41-year-old Scott Dekraai opened fire Wednesday, killing 6 women and two men. One woman remained in critical condition, but was improving. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
SANTA ANA, California (AP) ? The gunman in a California hair salon rampage wanted "to end any life in his path" during a two-minute killing spree in which he reloaded his weapons and shot some victims in the head in anger over a bitter custody case, a prosecutor said Friday.
Scott Dekraai had three guns and wore a bulletproof vest when he stormed through the busy Salon Meritage in downtown Seal Beach, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said.
Eight victims were shot in the head and chest at close range before the gunman walked outside and shot another person as he sat in a parked Range Rover, the prosecutor said.
"He was willing to end any life in his path, and he did," Rackauckas said. At least 15 people were inside the salon at the time of the attack.
Dekraai was charged with eight counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty against the man Rackauckas called a "methodical and merciless killer."
Dekraai callously snubbed out eight irreplaceable lives "like they were collateral damage," said Rackauckas, who choked up several times during an emotional news conference.
He said the rampage was triggered by a long-running custody dispute that Dekraai had with his ex-wife, Michelle Fournier. She was one of the people fatally wounded.
Dekraai was seeking revenge against his ex-wife, who he believed was interfering in the raising of their 8-year-old son, Rackaukas said, adding that Dekraai believed his ex-wife's co-workers at the salon were "enablers" in the custody dispute.
"That little boy's a victim," the prosecutor said. "Now his mother has been murdered, and he has to grow up knowing that his dad is a mass-murderer. So what kind of sick, twisted fatherly love might that be?"
Fournier had recently told friends and family and said in court documents that she feared for her safety as Dekraai became more and more unbalanced.
Dekraai suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from a 2007 tugboat accident that mangled his leg and left a colleague dead but his marriage to Fournier was falling apart even before that.
The quaint, sun-splashed town of Seal Beach, with its Main Street of vintage shops, restaurants and boutiques, has had only had one homicide in the previous four years.
__
Taxin reported from Santa Ana and Garden Grove. Associated Press writers John Rogers and Thomas Watkins in Los Angeles and The Associated Press News Research Center contributed to this story.
Associated Pressrick ross black hawk down black hawk down dennis the menace dylan ratigan dylan ratigan occupy
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন