Shootings at Two Maryland Malls Injure Three, Kill One: Police



Shootings on Friday at two Maryland shopping centers eight miles apart killed two people and injured two others, police said.

It was unclear whether the two incidents in the Washington, D.C., suburbs were related, and no suspects were in custody.

Authorities said they had identified a person of interest. They were also looking into whether Friday's incidents could be tied to another shooting a day earlier.

The violence started at around 11:30 a.m. ET at the Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, where two males and one female were injured by gunshots in the parking lot, Montgomery County police said. One male later died at the hospital, police said. Another was in critical condition, and the female had non-life-threatening injuries.

About 20 minutes after that shooting, police responded to more gunfire at a Giant Food supermarket at the Aspen Hill Shopping Center in Silver Spring, where a woman was fatally struck, said Montgomery County Police Assistant Chief Darryl McSwain.




The first shooting happened after a "confrontation" in the parking lot, McSwain said.

"One individual was shot. Two other individuals came to that person's aid" and were also shot, he told reporters.

Police do not believe the victims and the shooter knew each other, "but we are certainly looking at all angles," McSwain said.

The shootings come after a killing Thursday in Beltsville, about 10 miles east of Silver Spring. Eulalio Tordil, 62, is accused of shooting and killing his estranged wife in a high school parking lot, authorities said. He hasn't been caught.

While it was still to be determined if Friday's shootings were related, investigators were also looking into whether they had any connection to Thursday's violence. Authorities said they identified a person of interest in Friday's incidents, but did not name that person.

Tordil is a law enforcement officer with the Federal Protective Service, a Homeland Security agency responsible for security at federal buildings and some foreign embassies in the Washington area.

He was put on administrative duties in March after a protective order was issued against him, Homeland officials told NBC News. He was later placed on administrative leave, required to surrender his government-issued weapons, badge, and credentials. Any weapons he may have used were therefore obtained on his own, federal officials said.

Officials say his job was supervising contract employees who handle security at federal facility entrances.

Montgomery County police asked the FBI for help gathering forensic evidence in Friday's shootings.

Nearby schools ordered students and staff to shelter in place Friday, and Suburban Hospital in Bethesda was placed on lockdown. Montgomery parks were also on lockdown.

The police activity caused traffic to be backed up around the D.C. area.

Publicar un comentario

0 Comentarios