'No motive yet' in deadly salon shooting
01:14 - Source: KCAL/KCBS

Story highlights

NEW: Two of three critically injured survivors die, police say

NEW: The ninth gunshot wound victim remains in critical condition, police say

The suspect, a white male, was arrested while driving away a half mile from salon

The suspect was "cooperative" and didn't resist, police say

Los Angeles CNN  — 

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a 41-year-old Southern California man charged Friday with murder in this week’s mass shooting at a hair salon, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said.

A ninth person remained in critical condition, Sgt. Steve Bowles said late Wednesday afternoon.

Six people were found dead inside the Salon Meritage after police responded to a call about shots being fired inside the business shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday, police said. Three more were found critically injured, Bowles said.

A suspect, described as a white male, is in custody, he added.

“He was cooperative. He did not provide any resistance to the officers and he was taken into custody,” Bowles said.

In addition to the people who were killed and injured, he said, “there were people in the salon who were not shot.”

Authorities are investigating what relationship the gunman had with anyone inside the Salon Meritage.

“We don’t know if he’s related or what his involvement is with the salon,” Bowles said.

“It appears that the salon was busy at the time, and it appears as if almost every hair station was occupied,” he added.

The people shot appeared to be seeking shelter or cover during the shooting, Bowles said. Victims were scattered throughout the salon, and one victim was found outside, although it wasn’t known whether he was shot outside or inside, Bowles said.

Authorities don’t know if that man was shot inside or outside the salon, he added. That man is in critical condition, police said.

The suspect was arrested by police a half mile from the salon as he was driving a vehicle, Bowles said.

“We don’t have the make and the model of the weapon” used in the shooting, he said, although a weapon was recovered at the time of the suspect’s arrest.

“He advised there were weapons in the vehicle, but we don’t have information at this point,” Bowles continued.

Police don’t know whether the gunman said anything as he opened fire.

“We do not know at this point if the shots were fired only inside – or outside as well,” Bowles said.

Gunshot wounds were “at all different locations on the bodies,” Bowles said.

The Salon Meritage is located on the Pacific Coast Highway in Seal Beach, which residents describe as a small and “fairly intimate” coastal town.

The salon features a receptionist and a waiting area.

Seal Beach is a “small” and “fairly intimate” coastal town where “we have multiple years with zero homicides, so this obviously is an unusual and tragic circumstance,” Bowles said.

CNN’s Carey Bodenheimer contributed to this report.