Seal Beach, California salon shooting death toll up to 8 (VIDEO)

A gunman has killed eight people in a beauty salon in Seal Beach, California, and critically wounding another in what police suggest was a domestic dispute.

Seal Beach police Sgt. Steve Bowles told MSNBC that six victims died at the scene and two of three victims transported to a hospital in critical condition died.

The gunman, reportedly loaded down with weapons, left the scene in a white truck after the shooting at Salon Meritage but was stopped by officers about a half-mile away. 

Bowles was quoted by MSNBC as saying: "There may be something to the motive as to a relationship with somebody in the salon, that is our assumption."

The New York Times quoted a former salon employee, Lydia Sosa, who was at the scene as saying the attacker "had been involved in a bitter divorce from his former wife, who worked at the salon."

“They were never happy for a long, long time,” Ms. Sosa said. “She said he was bitter. He was very bitter.”

Bowles described the suspect, who was not named, as cooperative. 

In addition to the people who were killed and injured, he said, "there were people in the salon who were not shot," Bowles said, CNN reports.

Seal Beach, California, is described as a usually sedate, affluent beach community.

(More from GlobalPost: Seal Beach Salon Shooting: 8 dead at California hair salon)