Saugus, California- Merchants who knew the 24-year-old adult gift shop clerk who was shot dead on New Year’s Day https://www.adultfyi.com/read.aspx?ID=7628, apparently over an expensive sex toy, said Tuesday that the Saugus man was always nervous about working nights. “Literally a week before, (Christopher Simons) said, ‘I don’t want to die over $7 an hour,'” said Shane Enholm, 40, a skin artist who works next door to Santa Clarita Gifts. Last Saturday night, Enholm and Santa Clarita Tattoo’s owner, Karen Mitchell, were working late on a special appointment. They did not hear a gun shot that night because they were playing loud music. However, customers told them they heard a loud thud against the common wall between the two stores, and a bottle fell off a counter. Later, Mitchell said she received a call from the adult store’s owner asking her to check on the shop because it had been a while since he last saw Simons on the security camera system. When she went outside, people were standing on the sidewalk and paramedics were arriving. “I knew he was dead because the (paramedics) weren’t doing anything,” Enholm said. Robert Wheeler, the 25-year-old man suspected of killing Simons and wounding two others before turning the gun on himself, continued to recover this week at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital. At Santa Clarita Gifts, dried blood was still on the floor, on the wall and on appliances Sunday, another artist at the tattoo parlor said. “I went in the next day and was talking to one of the employees. … He lifted up (a mat in the corner) and there was still some gore and (expletive) underneath it,” said Jason Stewart, 30, of Newhall. “It wasn’t like it was a little bit that they missed or something; it was pretty blatant.” A vacuum cleaner also had some blood on it, and the rest of the mess was covered with cardboard, he said. On Tuesday, the blood appeared to have been cleaned up, though a small mat remained in the spot behind the counter. The clerk at the shop said Simons was a great guy but wouldn’t comment further nor provide any contact information for the owner. According to state records, Santa Clarita Gifts Inc. is based at 7314 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles. The New Year’s Day shootings started at the porn shop at about 7:30 p.m., sheriff’s officials said. Wheeler allegedly shot Simons with a .22-caliber rifle and left with a Jenna Jameson sex doll, witnesses said. Such items range in price at the store from $99 to $299. Sheriff’s officials wouldn’t comment on the nature of the item stolen. Wheeler reportedly returned to the store 20 minutes after the initial shooting to fire a second round into Simons’ head.A second Saugus resident was shot in the back as he sifted through trash at a nearby intersection. Another man was shot as he chased an intruder out of his home, all with the same caliber weapon, sheriff’s officials said. Two hours after the alleged shooting spree began, Wheeler fired a round into his own head outside a Taco Bell in Stevenson Ranch. Wheeler, a Washington resident, was visiting family in Canyon Country. This past Tuesday, a makeshift shrine for Simons sat along San Fernando Road in front of the shopping center. Emily Dalton, 21, laid down a bouquet of flowers. “He was a great guy,” Dalton said. Her sister was a close friend of Simons’. “He was fun, caring and always had a joke to make you feel better.” Santa Clarita Tattoo reopened for business Tuesday – on Sunday and Monday a “Closed” sign hung in the window with a note stating “For Chris.” Its employees mourned their lost friend, who they said would often stop by to smoke and chat with them. Some of the menthol cigarette butts still outside the shop were his, Mitchell said. “Chris was like the nicest guy – I mean for real – the nicest guy I’ve ever met, and I’m not just saying that because he’s dead,” Enholm said. The tattoo artist pointed out the shop’s front window: “(If Simons was still alive), he’d be right there, smoking at waving at us.” A viewing for Christopher Simons was set for Thursday, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Eternal Valley in Newhall. Friday, a noon memorial service was scheduled at Grace Baptist Church in Saugus. The services were open to the public.