'No known relationship' yet discovered between mall shooter and victims

January 26, 2014|Tribune wire reports

There is "no known relationship" between the gunman and the two people he killed at a Maryland mall, police said on Sunday.

"We are continuing to look for that motive," Howard County Police Chief Bill McMahon told a news conference the day after police said Darion Marcus Aguilar killed a young man and young woman at a mall in Columbia, Maryland, before apparently killing himself.

"We have no known relationship between the victims and our shooter," McMahon said.

Aguilar, 19, had no criminal record, McMahon said, adding authorities had retrieved a journal from the gunman's home, in which "he does express some general unhappiness with his life."

Aguilar fired six to eight shots from a 12-gauge shotgun, killing Brianna Benlolo, 21, of College Park, and Tyler Johnson, 25, of Mount Airy, Maryland, police said.

Both were employees of Zumiez, the skate shop where the shooting took place. A third person on a lower floor of the mall suffered a gunshot wound to the foot, and four more people were hurt in the ensuing chaos.

Aguilar,  who lived with his mother in the city of College Park, arrived at the shopping center in a taxi about an hour before opening fire, police said on Sunday.


U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican and chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said on Sunday that the latest shooting highlighted the vulnerability of malls.

"You can't have a security lockdown at our malls," he said in an interview with CBS, "but things like canines, a heavier canine presence are very good at detecting explosives."

"It's very difficult to stop a lone gunman who may have mental issues ...(and) wants to kill people. I mean, you can only do so much to stop that," he added.


The past week saw a student shot dead at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg on Friday, after a teacher's assistant was shot and killed at Purdue University in Indiana on Tuesday. Suspects have been charged with crimes in both cases.


The Maryland shooting happened around 11:15 a.m. EST (1615 GMT) on the mall's upper level just above the food court. The mall, which has more than 200 stores, was crowded with weekend shoppers; many took shelter after hearing the shots or seeing people fleeing.



"These were homemade devices consisting of flash powder and household items, so they're not very sophisticated," McMahon said.

Overnight, police searched Aguilar's home where they found more ammunition, and seized computers and documents. Police believe Aguilar legally bought the shotgun himself last month in nearby Montgomery County.



There was no answer at Aguilar's address. Neighbors said he lived there with his mother and possibly a sister, and that the family, who had only moved in within the last couple of years, kept to themselves.

Neighbor Megan O'Reilly said she interacted with them only a couple of times. "The house, when I visited, looked immaculately kept on the inside," she said. "They were not very engaging as neighbors."