Seal Beach police have identified ex-Marine Scott Evans De Kraai as the suspect who opened fire in a Southern California hair saloon over a custody dispute, ABC News is reporting. De Kraai entered Salon Meritage, where his ex-wife, Michelle Fournier, works, on October 12 wearing a bullet-proof vest and opened fire. He immediately killed six victims, who were all pronounced dead at the scene.

Three more people were hospitalized with severe wounds, and two later died. The names of the deceased have been held until the family members are notified. However, of the six who died inside the salon, five were females and one was male. Of the two victims who died at the hospital, one was male and one was female. It’s not immediately known if the victims were employees or customers.

Fournier’s relatives have told the local ABC affiliate, KABC, that she was killed during the shooting. She was reportedly the main target of the attack because of her custody dispute with De Kraai.

Sgt. Steve Bowles of the Seal Beach Police Department said “Our officers arrived on scene and found multiple gunshot victims inside of the salon. Other responding officers who arrived saw…what they thought was a suspect vehicle leaving the area and made a car stop on that vehicle, and took that suspect into custody.”

De Kraai was taken into custody a half-mile from the salon, as police spotted him driving through a residential area near Huntington Beach. Officers said he was cooperative at the time of the arrest and was taken to the Seal County Police Department.

Written by: Karen Benardello

seal beach massacre

By Karen Benardello

As a graduate of LIU Post with a B.F.A in Journalism, Print and Electronic, Karen Benardello serves as ShockYa's Senior Movies & Television Editor. Her duties include interviewing filmmakers and musicians, and scribing movie, television and music reviews and news articles. As a New York City-area based journalist, she's a member of the guilds, New York Film Critics Online and the Women Film Critics Circle.

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