Although one of the victims, Brianna Benlolo, 21, also lived in College Park, police have not established a connection between Aguilar and the victims, Howard County Police Chief William J. McMahon said at a Sunday morning news conference. The other victims was Tyler Johnson, 25, who had lived in Ellicott City but recently moved to Mount Airy.
(Photo by Lifetouch) - Darion Marcus Aguilar, 19, of College
Park, in his Junior year, yearbook photo. He went to James Hubert Blake
High School in Silver Spring, Md.
Map: Shooting at Columbia, Md. mall
View details of the area where violence erupted after a shooter emerged from among weekend shoppers.
Mall in Columbia is a gathering place for young, old
The Mall in Columbia, envisioned as the community’s downtown, is central to many residents’ lives.
Mall attack shatters feelings of safety
Customers and employees raced from noise, hid in storerooms after blasts at Howard County mall.
Protecting yourself during a shooting
VIDEO | Former Navy SEAL offers tips for staying safe during an “active shooter” event.
Aguilar, who police say lived with his mother, got out of the cab at the upper level and was seen going downstairs in the mall. A law enforcement official said that based on a review of surveillance video, investigators think that Aguilar sat for a while in one spot on the lower level and did not move around before he went upstairs and opened fire at Zumiez about an hour after his arrival at the mall.
After being briefed by police about the status of the investigation Sunday afternoon, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman said in an interview that authorities still have not determined a motive for the attack.
As for unconfirmed media reports about connections among the gunman and the two victims — specifically, that Aguilar was an ex-boyfriend of Benolo and that he was jealous of a romantic relationship between Benolo and her coworker Johnson — Ulman said, “We have absolutely no information at this time that links the shooter to either of these victims.”
More than 24 hours after the killings, with police having conducted numerous interviews, delving ever deeper into the backgrounds of Aguilar and the victims, Ulman said, “We have no information whatsoever on a motive. . . .. We’ve found no evidence of any connection at all. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. It just means we’ve found no evidence that there is.”
A relative of Johnson’s said in an interview that police told the family Sunday that investigators remained stumped about the gunman’s motive. “They’re just saying they’re clueless,” said Maggie Sliker, Johnson’s aunt, adding that her nephew was not romantically involved with Brianna Benlolo, his slain coworker.
Ulman said, “Be assured that [the issue of motive] is the most important question that we’re still looking for answers to.”
Chief McMahon said six to eight shots were fired, killing Benlolo and Johnson. Minutes later, when officers arrived, they found the shooter dead of an apparently self-inflicted wound.
McMahon said Aguilar’s weapon was a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun, which he bought in Montgomery County in December. Police found the gun next to Aguilar’s body, which was laden with ammunition. In addition, they said his backpack, which was found in the store, contained what they described as two crude devices that seemed to be an attempt to use fireworks to make explosives.
Ulman said that surveillance video shows Aguilar lingering in and near the mall’s first-floor food court for about an hour before going upstairs to Zumiez. His backpack was later found in the store’s dressing room, leading police to surmise that he entered the store with the shotgun inside the backpack, then took out the weapon in the dressing room, leaving the bag behind as he emerged and started shooting, Ulman said.
Police disabled the possible explosive devices, and, following standard procedure, searched the mall with K-9 units.
Although Aguilar had a large quantity of ammunition and had apparently tried to make explosives, police said it appeared that he did not target anyone else at the mall.
Five other people in the mall needed medical treatment, one for a shotgun wound that police said was described as non-life-threatening, the others for minor injuries suffered in the frantic mass exodus from the shopping complex.
Police said a victim who was shot in the foot told them that she was on the lower level of the mall, below Zumiez, when she was injured. Detectives were investigating how the wound occurred.
A law enforcement source said the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive led the search of Aguilar’s home Saturday night in the 4700 block of Hollywood Road in College Park. They were looking for more explosives, among other things.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing, the source said Aguilar worked at a Dunkin’ Donuts in the College Park area and was supposed to open the store Saturday morning. He did not show up for work, though, and a manager had to open the store, the source said.
The source said Aguilar’s mother filed a missing persons report about 1:45 or 2 p.m. Saturday — roughly two hours after the shooting — after having tried unsuccessfully to get hold of her son throughout the day.
Montgomery County schools officials confirmed that Aguilar graduated last June from James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring. He was admitted to Montgomery College but never attended, a spokeswoman said.
George Sliker, an uncle of the slain Tyler Johnson, said he and other relatives frantically tried to contact Johnson after they heard about the shooting. Failing to reach him, Sliker said, they began calling hospitals. Then they drove to the mall.
“The odds kept narrowing,” said Sliker, 67, of Upper Marlboro. “They couldn’t get anybody to tell them anything. It was horrible for them.” He described his slain nephew as polite and upbeat — “a likable kid” — and said he could not fathom why anyone would want to shoot him.
“It’s very hard on the family, of course,” Sliker said. “He just seemed like an ordinary kid who was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Bryan Fischer, 34, said Johnson was a “kind of shy guy” who for the past several years had volunteered in an anti-drug program in Howard County schools. Johnson loved concerts and music, especially rave, dubstep and electronic dance.
“He was a very sensitive kid with a huge heart who was there to help anybody in need, always there with a smile or a joke, loving and caring, and one of the best friends anybody could ask for,” Fischer said.
Fischer said that Johnson did not socialize much with his slain co-worker, Benlolo, with whom he had worked at Zumiez since late last year.
Benlolo was an assistant manager at the store, according to Corey Lewis, who for the past two months was her housemate at a white duplex in College Park, just on the edge of the University of Maryland campus. Benlolo had a 2-year-old son who spent time with her at the duplex a few days a week, Lewis said, and posted numerous pictures of him on Instagram and Facebook.
“She was always kind and joyful,” Lewis said, noting that she had a smile on her face as she prepared to leave for work Saturday morning. “She never seemed like she had any negativity. This comes as a shock to everyone.”
Zumiez chief executive Rick Brooks said in a statement that the company is “deeply saddened by the violence” at the store. “The Zumiez team is a tight knit community and all of our hearts go out to Brianna and Tyler’s families,” he said.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) lamented the deaths in a statement, expressing his “deepest condolences to the families of the victims and all those affected by this senseless act of violence. Protecting the public’s safety is our most solemn obligation.”
At the suburban mall, a quiet Saturday turned to terror as the blasts jolted shoppers and employees, who hit the floor and scrambled into stores.
“It was pretty freaky,” said Robert Ashton, a 49-year-old Californian on a business trip to Maryland. He said he and two companions were in the first-floor food court, directly beneath Zumiez, when the shooting occurred. “You see these things on TV all the time,” he said. “But you never think you’re going to be in the middle of it.”
Ashton said he heard a boom from above that sounded like a table falling over. And then came more booms, at least three, he said. “We took off running” and found shelter at a Chick-fil-A with other mall patrons, including a woman with two toddlers and another with three children. They hid for about 45 minutes until police arrived.
Roger Aseneta, a manager at Auntie Anne’s pretzel shop, said he heard what he knew were gunshots about 11:15 a.m. He ushered his employees inside and locked the doors behind them. They went into a backroom where, on a surveillance camera, they could see people running in the food court outside.
“It’s a case of people running for safety,” he said. “It’s a really terrible thing. I never thought I would experience this. . . . I was shaking.”
Aseneta, 52, said he heard five or six shots. And “I heard screaming,” he said in the parking lot, still in a white Auntie Anne’s apron.
At 12:30 p.m., police led frightened shoppers and workers from the mall entrance at the food court. Many were coatless, and those without cars were ushered, many shivering and some holding babies, into warm vans from Howard and Anne Arundel county fire departments. Some held hands and were crying.
Police officers guarded each entrance off Little Patuxent Parkway to keep people from the nearly empty parking lots. Police said the mall will be closed Sunday.
Laura McKindles said she heard eight to 10 shots as she worked a booth on the second level overlooking the food court.
“People were yelling, ‘Someone’s got a gun!’ ” she said. “They were screaming.”
She said she ran across the corridor and into a perfume store, where she hid in a backroom for about 90 minutes until police gave the all-clear. She was with three other workers from her stall and from the store. “I was praying,” she said. “I was thinking about my family, my dog.” She had left her cellphone behind and couldn’t call anyone to tell them she was okay until after she got out.
“I think this country is in a lot of trouble,” said McKindles, who recently moved to Columbia from north of Baltimore. “I mean, what possesses someone to, on a Saturday afternoon, in this cold, to come to a mall and shoot people?
“Why? I just can’t understand what motivates that.”
Lori Aratani, Lynh Bui, Alice Crites, Jennifer Jenkins, Jenna Johnson, Victoria St. Martin, Carol Morello, Martin Weil, Clarence Williams and Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.
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