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Federal Law Officer Suspected in 3 Fatal Shootings in Washington Suburbs Federal Law Officer Suspected in 3 Fatal Shootings in Washington Suburbs
(about 2 hours later)
The police were investigating whether the same man, a federal law enforcement officer, committed three shootings on Thursday and Friday, killing three people and wounding three others in the Maryland suburbs of Washington. The police suspect that the same man, a federal law enforcement officer, committed three shootings on Thursday and Friday, killing three people and wounding three others in the Maryland suburbs of Washington.
The police in Prince George’s County, Md, said the man, Eulalio Tordil, fatally shot his estranged wife, Gladys Tordil, on Thursday afternoon and then fled. While the police searched for him Friday, shootings were reported at two locations in Montgomery County: Potomac and Aspen Hill. The police in Prince George’s County, Md, said the man, Eulalio Tordil, fatally shot his estranged wife, Gladys Tordil, on Thursday afternoon and then fled. As the search for him continued into Friday morning, shootings were reported at two locations in Montgomery County: Potomac and Aspen Hill.
Mr. Tordil was arrested Friday afternoon in the Aspen Hill area by the Montgomery County police. “Thankfully, it was without incident,” Assistant Chief Darryl McSwain told reporters at the site of the shooting in Potomac. Mr. Tordil was arrested without incident Friday afternoon in Aspen Hill, across the street from the third shooting, in the parking lot of a mini-mall where officers had spotted the car he was reported driving, a rented silver Hyundai Elantra sedan. Plainclothes officers watched him for over an hour as he went in and out of shops and ate lunch, but waited until he walked back to the car, away from bystanders. At that point, witnesses told local TV stations, several unmarked police vehicles swooped in and boxed him in, and officers jumped out with guns drawn.
“We do have reason to believe that this incident and the one in Aspen Hill, potentially the one in Prince George’s County, was, in fact, related,” Chief McSwain said. “We did not want to endanger anyone and have a shootout when we took him into custody,” J. Thomas Manger, the Montgomery County police chief, said in explaining the delay. “There was some thought that may have been what he wanted.”
Officials would not what evidence investigators had of links between the shootings, how they tracked down Mr. Tordil or exactly where he was found. In fact, in a bulletin issued Thursday, the Prince George’s County police indicated that Mr. Tordil had talked about committing “suicide by cop.”
Ms. Tordil, 44, had obtained a protective order to keep her husband away from her. Mr. Tordil, 62, works for the Federal Protective Service, a police force that guards federal facilities. “We do have reason to believe that this incident and the one in Aspen Hill, potentially the one in Prince George’s County, was, in fact, related,” said Darryl McSwain, assistant chief of the Montgomery County police.
On Thursday afternoon, when Ms. Tordil drove to High Point High School in Beltsville on Thursday to pick up her children, her husband followed her, got out of his car and confronted her in the parking lot, the Prince George’s police said. Officials would not reveal what evidence investigators had of links between the shootings.
And Chief Manger said at a news conference, “The relationship between the suspect and the victims today, we don’t know.”
Officials did not release the names of any of the people who were shot, except Ms. Tordil, 44, who had obtained a protective order to keep her husband away. Mr. Tordil, 62, works for the Federal Protective Service, a police force that guards federal facilities.
On Thursday afternoon, when Ms. Tordil drove to High Point High School in Beltsville to pick up her children, her husband followed her, got out of his car and confronted her in the parking lot, the Prince George’s police said.
A bystander tried to intervene, but Mr. Tordil shot him, shot his wife multiple times as she sat in her sport utility vehicle, and then drove off, the police said. The man who tried to help her was taken to a hospital and was expected to survive.A bystander tried to intervene, but Mr. Tordil shot him, shot his wife multiple times as she sat in her sport utility vehicle, and then drove off, the police said. The man who tried to help her was taken to a hospital and was expected to survive.
The Prince George’s police said Mr. Tordil had expressed interest in committing “suicide by cop.” Hank Stawinski, the Prince George’s police chief, said his department hunted through the night and checked on several people in the region who had connections to the Tordils, looking for other potential victims or places he might hide.
“It’s tragic that we were not able to intervene prior to additional victims being harmed,” he said.
On Friday about 11 a.m., three people were shot in the parking lot of the Westfield Montgomery Mall, with one man killed and a man and a woman wounded, the Montgomery County police said. The wounded man was in critical condition, the police said, while the woman’s injury was not life-threatening.On Friday about 11 a.m., three people were shot in the parking lot of the Westfield Montgomery Mall, with one man killed and a man and a woman wounded, the Montgomery County police said. The wounded man was in critical condition, the police said, while the woman’s injury was not life-threatening.
Less than an hour later and a few miles away, a woman was shot and killed in the parking lot of a Giant supermarket in Aspen Hill. In the Montgomery County shootings, as in the one the day before, the gunman escaped. Less than an hour later and a few miles away, a woman was shot and killed in the parking lot of a Giant supermarket in Aspen Hill, not far from Mr. Tordil’s home. In the Montgomery County shootings, as in the one the day before, the gunman escaped. Several schools in the region were placed on lockdown while the manhunt was underway.
By midafternoon on Friday, the authorities had not released the names of any victims except Ms. Tordil. The Aspen Hill site had an eerie resonance for law enforcement officers, being just a few steps away from two of the sniper shootings committed by John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo in 2002. On Oct. 2, of that year, they fired through the window of a store in the same mini-mall where Mr. Tordil was arrested, narrowly missing a cashier. And the next day, they shot and killed a taxi driver, Premkumar Walekar, at a gas station just steps away from the Giant store.
Several Montgomery County schools were locked down on Friday in reaction to the shootings. The connection “was not lost on me,” said John McCarthy, the state’s attorney for Montgomery County. But, he added, “I think it’s a coincidence.”