Community Corner

Authorities Say Cerritos Woman Was One of Eight Slain in Seal Beach Shooting Rampage

Christy Lynn Wilson, a 47-year-old wife and mother of three from Cerritos, was killed in the shooting massacre that took place at Salon Meritage in Seal Beach on Wednesday afternoon.

On Thursday authorities released the names of the eight victims slain in the shooting rampage that took place at in Seal Beach -- the deadliest shooting in Orange County history.

Police said one of those victims was Christy Lynn Wilson, 47, of Cerritos. (Wilson is said to have also lived in nearby Lakewood, though this detail could not immediately be confirmed.) She leaves behind her husband Paul, a daughter and two sons. 

"Christy touched the lives of so many people that words alone cannot describe what a wonderful individual she was and what a tremendous asset to her community she was," her family said in a statement provided to the Los Angeles Times.

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"Nothing can be done to bring back the individuals that were lost," the statement said, "but the family hopes and prays that everyone will be comforted by fond memories of their loved ones."

Wilson was described as an artist who enjoyed making jewelry and an athlete who liked to paddleboard in the ocean, the Times reported.

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In an interview with KTLA-Channel 5, Wilson's husband Paul tearfully remembered his wife, whom he said he spoke to every day until now.

"Know that your kids love you so much and will never let you out of their thoughts and their hearts," he said in a message to his wife. "You were so good to them."

A talented manicurist at the salon, Wilson, was soft-spoken and sweet, said Kim Criswell, who owns the in the same center as the Salon Meritage.

“Her kids are just devastated,’ Criswell told Patch. “She and her husband are great people. My heart is breaking for them.”

Wilson, was a close friend of Michelle Fournier, the ex-wife of Scott Evans Dekraai, the gunman who allegedly sprayed Salon Meritage with gunfire.

On Wednesday, Criswell and her employees said they watched Dekraai shoot one of the victims in the parking lot outside the salon, prompting them to run and lock themselves in the bathroom to escape the gunfire.

“I am just grateful we are alive – it’s hard to say that because we are still here. I have friends who are gone, and there is no sense of why they are gone and we are here,” said Criswell.

Police arrested DeKraai about a half mile away, at Central Avenue and 12th Street, shortly after the shootings took place.

Fournier's attorney, John Cate Jr., said Dekraai and his ex-wife were in court Tuesday. Dekraai had been seeking sole custody of their son, Dominic, but a court-ordered report recommended against it, according to City News Service.

According to a report in the Times, Wilson testified in support of Fournier on Tuesday as part of Fournier's custody battle with the accused killer.  

The Seven Other Victims and the Lone Survivor:

  • Randy Lee Fannin, 62Murrieta: Born Dec. 11, 1948, Fannin founded Salon Meritage in 1990. He had many longtime clients, some going back 20 years. He was married to Sandy, also a hairdresser. "I've known Randy professionally since 1979," Mary Shawn Usborne wrote on Facebook. "I know no one who could cut hair like him." Another client described Fannin as laid-back, a sentiment echoed in a chalk message on the front door of the salon: "Randy, RIP friend, Aloha." .
  • Michelle Marie Fournier, 48Los Alamitos: Described as cheerful, friendly and easy to be around, Fournier was the ex-wife of alleged killer Scott Dekraai. Born March 3, 1963, she is survived by three children, two of them adults. On Thursday afternoon at Fournier's rented condominium, her sister declined to be interviewed.     
  • Michelle Daschbach Fast, 47Seal Beach: Born May 21, 1964, she was described as "blonde, cute and friendly" by Michael Vosburgh, a homeless man who hangs around the business park and used to rent a room from Fast's neighbors. Vosburgh said Fast is survived by her husband, Patrick, and three kids: two girls and a boy. He said Fast used to walk her dog every morning. "I just about fainted when I heard about Michelle," he said. According to the Beach Futbol Club website, Fast was a team mom for the girls' U16 soccer club. "It is with great sadness that we write to let you know that one of the victims in the senseless Seal Beach tragedy was Michelle Fast, wife of Patrick Fast who manages our Girls U16 White team, and mother of Lisa Fast a player on that team," the club's website states.
  • Victoria Ann Buzzo, 54, Laguna Beach: Born July 21, 1957. 
  • Lucia Bernice Kondas, 65, Huntington Beach: Born Feb. 19, 1946.    
  • Laura Lee Elody, 46, Huntington Beach: Born Oct. 1, 1965, she had just celebrated a birthday and was newly married. A stylist at the salon, Elody was also the daughter of Hattie Stretz, who was critically wounded in the shooting (see "One Survivor" below).
  • David Caouette, 64, Seal Beach: Born July 14, 1947.

Although not listed in Thursday's press release, the remaining victim of Wednesday's shooting is 73-year-old , who was still hospitalized Thursday morning, after surgery Wednesday. She's married to Tom Stretz, a former director of the Los Alamitos Youth Center. .

* For more comprehensive coverage of the Seal Beach massacre, visit Los Alamitos-Seal Beach Patch.

-- Paige Austin contributed to this report.


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