Local salon owners shaken by shooting

Following Monday's shooting that left two people dead at a Bossier City hair salon including the shooter, nearby salon owners were searching for ways to keep their businesses safer.

Cheryl Wilson, owner of Studio 3 in Bossier City near the busy intersection of Airline Drive and Shreveport-Barksdale Highway, says she hasn't had any major problems in over 40 years in the salon industry but she is always looking to improve safety.

"It's not only four ourselves but for our customers, we have to protect them, it's so unfortunate what happened to them down there," she says. 

Wilson explains that many women go to the salon to relax and let their guard down, something that unfortunately makes it an easy setting for crime to occur.

"They throw their purse on the couch, change their clothes, they sit in the chair, they all sit around and talk, they go get a coke in the refrigerator and they do not expect anyone to walk through the door and threaten them."

Studio 3 employees that are working alone keep the door locked and at least one employee carries a weapons permit.  Wilson says she has thought of keeping the door locked during all business hours and adding a doorbell.

This is the third shooting at a salon in the Shreveport/Bossier area since 2009.  A 2009 shooting at Phlawless Cuts Barber Shop in Shreveport left one person dead and another seriously injured.  A 2011 shooting at the G-Style Barber Shop in Shreveport left another with serious injuries.  In each incident the victim knew the shooter.