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, Calif. (AP) ? Prosecutors didn't take long to decide that the man they say went on a deadly shooting rampage at a Southern California salon deserves to die.
First, they said, Scott Dekraai wrapped himself in body armor and armed himself with three handguns. Then, he burst into the salon where his ex-wife worked ? their 8-year-old son waiting at his elementary school for one of them to pick him up.
Over two minutes, Dekraai moved methodically through the salon, killing his ex-wife and seven others as he shot his victims in the head and chest. Prosecutors said he wanted revenge against his ex-wife with whom he fought over the custody of their son.
"That little boy's a victim," said prosecutor Tony Rackackaus, pausing to compose himself at an emotional news conference on Friday. "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?"
Dekraai appeared briefly in court Friday afternoon, where angry friends and relatives of the victims screamed insults. One person shouted, "I hate you."
Superior Court Judge Erick L. Larsh ordered a medical review after Dekraai's attorney said his client wasn't getting his needed antipsychotic medication while he is held in jail without bail. Attorney Robert Curtis also said he would likely request that the trial be moved out of the area.
Prosecutors often spend time weighing mitigating and extenuating circumstances before deciding to seek the death penalty. Rackackaus said he reached his decision in less than 48 hours because there was no reason to look for such factors in this case.
"There are some cases that are so depraved, so callous and so malignant that there is only one punishment that might have any chance of fitting the crime," said Rackackaus, the Orange County district attorney.
The crime, the worst in Seal Beach's 96-year history, has shaken the tight-knit seaside city of 24,000 that many residents call Mayberry by the Sea. Until this week, it had only one homicide in four years. The crime reported most often last year was larceny.
"The reason for this rampage? Revenge," Rackackaus said. Dekraai "committed this unimaginable act of violence because he wanted to kill his ex-wife."
After a final phone conversation with his ex-wife, Michelle Fournier, on Wednesday morning, authorities say, Dekraai drove to Salon Meritage in downtown Seal Beach, where he knew she would be working.
During a two-minute span, authorities say, he gunned down eight people in the salon and another outside in the parking lot. One person survived and is hospitalized in critical condition. The wounded person, 73-year-old Harriet Stretz, was having her hair done by her daughter, Laura Lee Elody, who was killed.
As people ran out of the building screaming or hid in adjacent rooms or simply lay on the floor attempting to play dead, the onslaught continued, with Dekraai only stopping to reload.
When he was done, the gunman walked out of the salon and, encountering a man in a parked car, shot him to death and drove away.
"He was willing to end any life in his path, and he did," Rackackaus said.
Police pulled over Dekraai a short distance away, and he surrendered without resisting. Rackackaus called the killings cruel, merciless and methodical, adding they had nothing to do with love for Dekraai's son, who friends said the 41-year-old former tugboat operator doted on.
Dekraai and Fournier split up in 2006 and divorced the following year. The two had been involved in an increasingly acrimonious custody fight over their son ever since Dekraai had asked a judge for "final decision making authority" when it came to matters involving their son's education and his medical and psychological treatment.
Both parents were in court the day before the shootings for a custody hearing that was continued until December.
Fournier's attorney, John Cate, said a recent evaluation by a court-appointed psychologist concluded the couple's custody agreement, which gave each parent close to equal time with their son, should remain the way it was.
But Cate added that the report concluded neither parent was behaving as they should have.
"He found they were not co-parenting. In fact, they were parallel parenting and doing a poor job of it at that," Cate said of the psychologist's conclusions. "It led to a great deal of mistrust."
Despite the report, he said both Dekraai and Fournier were well mannered in court on Tuesday.
Cate also said one of the victims of the shooting, Christy Wilson, was a co-worker of Fournier's who spoke with the court-appointed psychologist. He speculated that might have led to Wilson being targeted by the gunman.
"She was a good friend of Michelle's and she paid the price for it, apparently," the lawyer said.
Throughout the custody battle, Dekraai and Fournier traded serious allegations, each calling the other an unfit parent.
Dekraai said in court papers that Fournier had a drinking problem, once showed up drunk at their son's Little League game and didn't keep a close watch on the boy.
Fournier responded in court papers that Dekraai was mentally unstable, had been violent and abusive to her when they were married and had once called 911 and threatened to kill himself and others.
Dekraai's stepfather, Leroy Hinmon, had gotten a temporary restraining order against him in 2007 after he said Dekraai attacked him. The order required Dekraai to surrender his guns, but it had long since expired.
Cate said Dekraai acknowledged to the court-appointed psychologist that he had been diagnosed as bipolar and was taking pain medication for a leg injury.
Shortly after their separation, Dekraai was badly injured in a tugboat accident as he tried to save a co-worker who was crushed to death when a towline snapped.
A Los Angeles County sheriff's detective who investigated the accident called his actions "heroic." ''He saw her pinned by her towline, and he immediately went to her side to try to assist her," Detective Robert Harris said at the time.
His leg badly mangled, Dekraai was unable to work, and friends and acquaintances have said he was in constant pain since then. He told the court he lived off an insurance settlement and his retirement benefits.
___
Associated Press Writers Gillian Flaccus in Santa Ana, Calif., and John Rogers in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Associated Pressjulio jones elizabeth warren aaron rodgers netflix stock coptic church steve bartman columbus day
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.