Activist: Seal Beach Salon Shooting May Have Been God's Punishment

A longtime advocate of a homeless shelter in Seal Beach provoked outrage Monday when she implied God may have allowed the Salon Meritage massacre to happen because of the city's lax attitude toward the poor.

Long Beach Pastor Shirley Broussard offended many at a City Council meeting Monday when she said there might be a link between the deadliest mass shooting in Orange County history and the city’s lack of support for a homeless shelter. The victims cried out, but help couldn’t come in time to save them, said Broussard.

"They (the police and fire) were not able to get to that cry in time, but I had to wonder if you had listened to the cry of the poor, and the message of servicing the poor, would God have not allowed that to take place in this city?” Broussard asked city leaders. “I believe that you stand guilty of not opening your heart and not opening your general fund. … Every person has a responsibility to look out for those who do not have.”

On October 12, 2011,. A ninth person was wounded but survived her injuries.

According to Broussard, the local police and fire authorities “will never be able to protect this city if this city persists in ignoring the cries of the poor.”

However, she added, the Lord will “perform a miracle shortly” and fund the shelter.

“He will provide the funding where this city has decided it will not,” Broussard said.

In 2009, Broussard said she had a vision from God telling her to urge the city to help fund a homeless shelter in Seal Beach. In 2009 neighbors opposed the idea.

During her public comments Monday, Broussard also quoted a number of passages from the Bible including Proverbs 21:13: “If a man shuts his ears to the cries of the poor, he too will cry out and not be heard.”

“You are an abomination to God,” said Seal Beach City Councilman Michael Levitt about Broussard after the meeting. “That woman has no place speaking in public."

Levitt, a former Seal Beach Mayor, said if was still the mayor, he would not have allowed Broussard to continue speaking.

He said it was “absolutely” an insult to the victims, the victims’ families and to anyone who believes in God. He said God wouldn’t kill a group of people “because we didn’t pay for housing.”

Coto de Caza resident Jennifer Peace, who attended the meeting to hear a later issue, said it’s good that someone wants to care for the poor but criticized Broussard’s statements about the shooting.

“I do like the fact that there are people that are working for the benefit of the less fortunate,” Peace said. “She really can get more bang for her buck if she wouldn’t say that God’s wrath is punishing people because the rich don’t help the homeless.”

“This is going to be televised,” added Peace, who attends Saddleback Church in Lake Forest. “You don’t make irresponsible statements like that because you’re emotional. You lose your audience.”

“That was a very irresponsible.”

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