Salon owner ‘loved life and people’

Two Laguna Beach residents were among the eight victims killed in a shooting spree at Salon Meritage in Seal Beach on Oct. 12.

Scott Evans Dekraai, of Huntington Beach, was charged Oct. 14 with eight felony counts of special-circumstance first-degree murder and one felony count of attempted murder. The rampage is the worst massacre in Orange County history.

Among the first killed that day was salon owner Randy Fannin, 63, of Laguna Beach. Witnesses reported Dekraai first shot his ex-wife, her client, then Fannin.

Fannin opened the business almost 10 years ago with his wife, Sandy. They stayed in Laguna Beach for half of the week, and returned to their home in Murrieta on Saturdays before heading back to Seal Beach on Wednesdays.

The pair loved to travel, said Ross Vacca, Fannin’s neighbor at his Murrieta home. The Fannins visited Tuscany, Italy, three years ago, and Randy Fannin just returned from Myrtle Beach a couple of weeks ago.

“He was just a wonderful person in the neighborhood, liked by everybody,� Vacca said.

The two were golfing buddies since moving into the same Murrieta neighborhood in 2004. Fannin lived off the 13th green of The Golf Club at Rancho California.

“The last time I spoke with him was this past Monday,� Vacca said. “We were teeing off right by his house, near his balcony. He was hosing down the area around his pool and myself and a couple other gentlemen asked him to join. That was the last time I saw him.�

“I still have a sick feeling in my stomach,� Vacca added.

Fannin was a wine connoisseur who made trips up to his son and daughter-in-law’s winery. He and his wife would visit wineries in Temecula and loved the Inland Empire climate.

“He loved life and people,� Vacca said. “He was just a great guy.�

His wife survived the attack, but many others weren’t so lucky.

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Victoria Buzzo

Victoria Buzzo, 54, a stylist at the salon, was also killed.

Family members who gathered at Buzzo’s home on La Costa Court near the Laguna Woods-Aliso Viejo border declined to comment on Oct. 13.

Her mother, Ann Li Mandri, told the Orange County Register that Buzzo was a happy, bubbly person.

“She made people happy,� Li Mandri said. “Everybody who knew her loved her.�

Buzzo had been married to her high school sweetheart, David Buzzo, for more than 30 years, her mother said.

“They were just a happy couple,� she told the newspaper. “I can’t remember one time that she said she was mad at him, or he said he was mad at her. They had everything in common.�

The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.

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Twitter: @JosephSerna