SoCal salon shooting

Worst mass killing in OC since 1976, when Edward Charles Allaway shot 9, killed 7 at Cal-State Fullerton.

There are 6 fatalities in the salon; 3 victims transported to the hospital are in critical condition, according to early reports.

The shooter was captured in a traffic stop shortly afterwards and is in custody.

 

Update: Death toll now 8.

 

This is truly bad.
It does make me wonder though, reading the LAT's lead.

"The mass killing at a Seal Beach salon has left residents in this small seaside town astonished that such an attack could happen in a tight-knit community with palm tree-lined streets and manicured lawns."

Shock that a tight-knit town and well manicured lawns don't protect you from tragedy? Where have they been? Honestly, that's three cliches right out of the box.
There is a way to say this same thing, but by using well-used crutches like this - it makes the reader think this is like any other mass shooting. Better to use actual examples of why people think Seal Beach is immune from violence than to to throw out the over used "tight-knit", shock and manicured lawns. I almost think people have seen so many of these events on TV that when the out of town media show up in their town they figure they are "supposed" to say that.

 

Should DanOregon ever go on a rampage, I will not use the "He was a quiet man" line.

 

I Googled the shooter's name after reading that a neighbor said he walked with a limp. Turns out there were several stories about 3 years ago when a female tug boat captain was crushed to death on the deck of her ship -- a deckhand tried to save her, and was seriously wounded in the process. It was a pretty big story at the time.

Yep, the deckhand was today's shooter.

Further Googling uncovered an interview he gave the LAT about 10 years ago, when he was with his then-wife Michelle (who he tried to kill today) and Michelle's parents, at their house, during a high tide that flooded the parents' house.

2 minutes of Googling turned up a better lede than the one the LAT plugged in from the cliche machine.

 

And considering it was in a beauty salon, manicure may not have been the best choice of words, either ..l.

 

Apparently the Times figured it out. Says records show the shooter suffered from PTSD after the accident.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/10/seal-beach-shooting-suspect-suffered-ptsd-from-boat-injury.html