SEAL BEACH – In the tight-knit community of Seal Beach’s Old Town, residents greeted one another Wednesday night by asking if they knew the victims of the shooting at a hair salon.
By 9 p.m., police had not released the identities of the eight people who were killed when a lone gunman opened fire at Salon Meritage, the deadliest mass killing in Orange County history.
One person remains in critical condition.
In any town of 25,000 people, the scale of the tragedy would inspire shock. In the square mile of the city’s historic center, though, residents are used to walking dogs, riding bikes and nodding to neighbors. The quiet, friendly atmosphere has earned the city the nickname of Mayberry-by-the-sea.
“This is the kind of town where people say hello whether they know you or not,” Joe Landeros said.
After the shooting grabbed national headlines, he received calls from family and friends living in Northern California and out of state.
“Everyone we know is shocked,” Landeros said.
Since 2007, Seal Beach police have recorded one homicide. In 2010, an elderly man was accused of shooting his 86-year-old wife, who had late-stage dementia, in a nursing home. Older statistics were not immediately available.
Violent crime is rarely on residents’ minds.
Tom Griffith, who has lived in Seal Beach for five years, said he has walked his dog as late as 2 a.m. and never felt anything but safe on the city’s streets. Hearing about the shooting was surreal, he said.
“I just hate to see a town like Seal Beach get this kind of publicity,” he said.
He added he’s proud of local police as well as the other agencies that have stepped up to help. And for the victims, who may well have been acquaintances, he said he hopes the community can come together for some kind of remembrance.
Outside Javatini’s, a coffee shop on Main Street, locals sit in camp chairs and greet customers as they go in and out. Linda Down tried to make sense of the events. A friend of a friend works at the salon, Down said. Luckily, it was her day off.
“I’m just sick for the families,” Down said.
A short block away, at the Bay Theatre, the town’s only cinema marking the entrance to Main Street, the movie “In Cold Blood” was on the marquee.
“It’s a great film, but not for right now,” said employee and resident Josh Makela, 20.
“It’s so surreal how something like this can happen,” Makela said. “As a kid, it’s shoved down your throat what a quaint little town this is.”
On the outskirts of the shopping center, near the police tape, Pam Rayburn brought flowers to start a small memorial. On the dark street, passersby stood silently, some praying.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Rayburn said through tears. “The thing I love about Seal Beach, it’s such a small town, and nothing like this happens.”
Huntington Beach resident Nancy Keller, who works at a nearby restaurant, brought electric candles to add to the scene.
“I wanted to do something and felt helpless and didn’t know what to do,” she said.
Nearby, the Mary Wilson Library and senior center was transformed into a center for families of victims. Neighbors, friends and hairstylists from other salons gathered to share news and console one another.
Ana Beatriz Cholo stopped to check on her hairdresser, who worked at Salon Meritage.
“This is a small town. We’re all connected with each other,” she said.
John Gomard, who stopped to ask police officers at the library about the shooting, said he often talks about how safe the area is.
“There’s a cliché that people always say this doesn’t happen here,” he said. “Well, it (hadn’t) happened here yet.”
Contact the writer: ckoerner@ocregister.com or 949-454-7309
