6 dead in California salon shooting

A GUNMAN shot dead six people and critically wounded three others yesterday at a Southern California hair salon in the coastal town of Seal Beach, an Orange County fire official said.

The suspected gunman was arrested by officers from the Seal Beach police department, county fire authority spokesman Marc Stone said.

The shooting occurred at the Salon Meritage in a large shopping centre on Pacific Coast Highway.

Seal Beach is located about 50 kilometres south-east of Los Angeles.

Details of the shooting, including a motive, were not immediately available, and the six dead had not yet been identified last night.

The three critically wounded victims were taken to the Long Beach Memorial Hospital, Stone said.

Local media reports said the gunman was apprehended after fleeing the scene in a vehicle.

Live overhead television footage broadcast on KCAL9-TV showed a white pickup truck left parked by a roadside with three of its doors open about a half-mile from the shooting scene.

The station reported that a number of weapons were recovered from the vehicle by police.

The area around the salon was cordoned off with yellow crime-scene tape, and several nearby streets were blocked off by police.