A GUNMAN OPENED fire in a busy hair salon yesterday, killing eight people and critically wounding another – leaving bodies scattered throughout the business in a normally sedate Southern California beach community.

The gunman got into a truck and drove away from Salon Meritage after opening fire. A suspect was stopped by officers about a half-mile away and surrendered without incident while saying he had multiple weapons with him, police Sgt Steve Bowles said.

Authorities did not immediately release his name or those of the victims. In all, one man and five women died at the salon, one man and one woman died after being transported to a nearby hospital, and one woman remained in critical condition late Wednesday.

Friends of the salon owner said the gunman was the ex-husband of a stylist who worked there. Bowles would only say, “There may be something to the motive as to a relationship with somebody in the salon, that is our assumption.” He declined to elaborate later.

Kimberly Criswell, who owns a salon just two doors down from the scene of the shootings, said she and her customers and employees heard gunshots, and her receptionist saw a man through a window as he was shot in a parking lot.

“There was like a pop, pop and my receptionist screamed, ‘he just shot that man’ and we all ran into the bathroom and locked the door,’” Criswell said.

Glenn Zachman, who owns a video news-gathering service, said he arrived at the scene of the arrest shortly after police and saw they had placed plastic bags over the man’s hands to preserve possible gunshot residue.

He also saw a bulletproof vest on the back of a patrol car but didn’t know if the man, dressed in a button-down shirt and pants, had been wearing it.

The man, in handcuffs, was placed in a patrol car and taken away about two-and-a-half hours after the shooting. A new white pickup truck that was believed to be his was parked on the modest residential street with its doors open.

The man was cooperative when officers, working from a description of the shooter, stopped him near the salon, Bowles said.

Police were still trying to determine the sequence of events inside the shop. They wouldn’t say what type of weapon was used or if the gunman used more than one.

“We’re unsure at this point if he shot from the entrance and people, as they were shot, ran in seeking cover or seeking shelter, but we have fatalities throughout the salon,” Bowles told reporters at a news conference outside the business.

He said the salon was busy at the time, with every hair-dressing station in operation.