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Columbia mall shooter was obsessed with Columbine massacre, police say Columbia mall shooter was obsessed with Columbine massacre, police say
(about 7 hours later)
The young man who opened fire in the Mall in Columbia in January, killing two people and spreading terror throughout this suburban community, was obsessed with carrying out a massacre similar to that in Columbine, authorities said in their first detailed account of the shootings. He spent months searching the Internet for mass murder, focusing on the massacre at Columbine, learning how to assemble and fire a shotgun, and how to build a bomb. At the same time, Darion Marcus Aguilar sought out clues to mental illness and joined a chat room filled with people contemplating suicide in their search for a way out.
Howard County Police Chief William H. McMahon said 19-year-old Darion Marcus Aguilar had searched the Internet extensively for information on the 1999 mass shooting outside Denver, and even timed his opening salvo to 11:14 a.m., the same time two shooters dressed in trench coats walked into Columbine High School and began their killing spree. Thirteen people died in what was then among the nation’s deadliest school shooting. The 19-year-old from College Park kept all of that private, right up to Saturday, Jan. 25, when at 11:14 a.m. he stood in a dressing room at the Mall in Columbia and snapped a photo of himself holding a Mossberg 12-gauge. He uploaded the image to a blog on Tumblr, adding a note:
The findings dispel speculation that Aguilar — who ended the attack when he turned the gun on himself — had targeted his victims, employees of a store he had visited in the past. One of his victims lived blocks away from his home in College Park, fueling talk that the shooting was grounded in a domestic dispute or that he was angry at being spurned. But in putting an end to that story line, police raised a far more frightening one Wednesday, confirming people’s worst fears: that Aguilar intended his attack to be random, and far more deadly. “I had to do this. Today is the day. On previous days I tried this I woke up with anxiety, regret and hope for a better future this day I didn’t, I woke up felt no emotions no empathy no sympathy. I will have freedom or maybe not. I could care less.”
McMahon released the findings at a news conference Wednesday, along with photos and video recordings of Aguilar lingering in the mall, apparently waiting for a precise time to begin his assault, and practicing loading his gun in his bedroom. Police also said that, just moments before he emerged from a clothing store dressing room and opened fire, he took a photo of himself holding the shotgun he had bought a month earlier in Rockville and posted it on the Internet. It was not discovered until much later. A moment later, Aguilar stepped out of the dressing room at Zumiez’s, a store he had visited before and is popular with skate and snowboarding set, and randomly killed two clerks before firing on other mall patrons, wounding one and sending hundreds of panicked shoppers and merchants racing for cover. Then he took his own life.
“I had to do this,” Aguilar wrote in his posting on Tumblr, police said. “Today is the day. On previous days I tried this I woke up with anxiety, regret and hope for a better future this day I didn’t, I woke up felt no emotions no empathy no sympathy. I will have freedom or maybe not. I could care less.” “He knew he was sick,” Howard County Police Chief William J. McMahon said at a news conference Wednesday, detailing findings of a six-week investigation and revealing a timeline of that fateful day, when Aguilar left home at 5:15 a.m., took a bus to the end of the line in Burtonsville and then used a taxi to get to the mall. He carried a backpack hiding the disassembled shotgun and two makeshift bombs cobbled together with fireworks.
McMahon said police decided that they would not release that photo because Aguilar intended it as an “effort to gain notoriety.” “Nobody saw this coming,” the police chief said.
The police chief said Aguilar failed to surpass the carnage of Columbine for a variety of reasons. His pistol-gripped, pump-action Mossburg 12-gauge shotgun held six rounds of buckshot, which is most lethal at close range, and lacks accuracy and power farther away. Also, police believe that bystanders were able to escape more quickly than the Aguilar thought they could, quickly scattering in the vast mall, and within seconds he ran out of people to shoot. McMahon said that detectives found no evidence that Aguilar knew the people he killed — Brianna Benlolo, 21, of College Park and Tyler Johnson, 25, of Mount Airy, co-workers at Zumiez. Police also said it was pure coincidence that Aguilar and Benlolo lived just blocks apart. McMahon called early false speculation about a romantic connection or that Aguilar was obsessed or angry with one or both of the victims devastating to the mourning families.
The new account by police for the first time describes a motive for the shootings that claimed the lives of Brianna Benlolo, 21, of College Park and Tyler Johnson, 25, co-workers at a store called Zumiez, which caters to skate boarders and snow boarders and is on the upper level of the mall near the food court. The shooter had frequented the mall — one employee described him as a “mall rat” — had visited the store in the past, and lived blocks from one of his victims, Benlolo, sparking widespread speculation that he had targeted specific victims. But in putting an end to those story lines, police raised a far more frightening one: confirming people’s worst fears that Aguilar intended his attack to be random and far more deadly. The chief said that Aguilar was dressed similar to one of the Columbine gunmen, used a similar weapon and lingered in the mall for 41 minutes to time his attack to the moment when on April 20, 1999, two students walked into Columbine High School, outside of Denver, and began their killing rampage.
Brian Fischer, Tyler Johnson’s friend, said the new report confirmed what he knew all along: that it was a random act of violence. McMahon could only speculate that Aguilar stopped shooting because he ran out of targets. Most people in the vast mall had quickly scattered, and Aguilar’s shotgun was not lethal or accurate at long distances. “There could have been a lot more victims,” McMahon said.
“We knew that Tyler could not do anything or cause anything to bring this upon himself,” said Fischer, 34. “Anybody who knew Tyler knew he was an amazing young man.” Police said that Aguilar fired one shot at Benlolo, who was behind the checkout counter next to the dressing room. Then he shot Johnson several times. Both died immediately, McMahon said. The gunman then took a shot across the hall, striking one woman in the foot. He aimed another down into the food court, striking the wall next to Great American Cookies and narrowly missing several people. Then, McMahon said, Aguilar turned and shot out the plate glass window of Zumiez, striking a mannequin.
Fischer said he watched the news conference and media coverage from Howard County on Wednesday, but reliving the day was so difficult he had to mute the television at some points. “He then walked back into the store, stuck the shotgun in his mouth and killed himself,” McMahon said. Of the 54 rounds of ammunition Aguilar had stuffed into his backpack, he fired nine. The backpack also held a video camera with images of himself holding the shotgun. McMahon said police would not release Aguilar’s final self-portrait because they believe he intended it as an “effort to gain notoriety.”
“It just saddens me to know that things like this happen to people who absolutely don’t deserve it,” Fischer said through tears. “I love and miss my friend.” Police said Aguilar’s family and friends had no idea what he was planning.
Throughout the investigation, Howard police said repeatedly that they could find no links to the victims and the shooter other than circumstance. Police found a journal Aguilar had kept in his bedroom and found notations that indicated threats, including writings of general hatred toward others. In one entry, he apologized to his family for what he was about to do. Aguilar’s mother could not be reached to comment this week. On Tuesday, at the College Park home where
Police said Aguilar’s writings span about a year before the shootings and show him disconnected and violent, and include descriptions of him using marijuana and expressing “thoughts of wanting to die.” In one entry, police said he wrote that he was “ready to die.” Aguilar lived with his mother, a man walked out carrying two suitcases. “Please just leave my family alone,” he said as he left.
But police said he never mentioned specific places or people. He wrote that his plan was “set,” but he did not “indicate what he’s referring to,” police said. McMahon told reporters at the time of the shooting that Aguilar, in his journal, expressed “some general unhappiness with his life.” On Wednesday afternoon at the mall, Zumiez remained barricaded by a white wall meant to honor emergency responders and the victims. The memorial was filled with colorful handwriting ranging from brief notes from sympathetic strangers to sprawling remembrances from close friends.
At the news conference, police said Aguilar “knew he was sick” and was referred to a psychiatrist in April after he told a doctor that he had been hearing voices. Investigators found no record that he ever visited a mental health professional. Visiting the mall for the first time since the shooting, Williams Adams, 60, said the latest information about Aguilar shows that even the most unsuspecting people can harbor dangerous tendencies.
But police said Aguilar’s family, friends and school counselors saw no sign that he would turn violent. “Anybody could be the perpetrator,” Adams said as he stopped to look at the memorial. “You really don’t know what to look for.”
“Nobody saw this coming,” McMahon said. George Sliker, Johnson’s uncle, said the victims’ families were prepared for what would be released in the report because law enforcement has kept in close contact. Although it has been difficult for the family to relive the memories of the day, he said, the information has helped with the grieving process.
During a search of Aguilar’s computer, though, police found thousands of searches for mass murder, school shootings, home-made explosives and other topics related to killing. The search, they said, showed that he had a “fixation” on the Columbine shooting. “It’s closing an old wound instead of opening it,” said Sliker, 67. “Every time you talk and open up and grieve a little more, it is a part of the healing process.”
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold — each wearing trench coats — walked into Columbine between 11:14 a.m. and 11:22 a.m., according to the final police report. While Aguilar got the time right, he didn’t match the anniversary. Columbine occurred April 20, 1999; the Columbia shooting took place Jan. 25. And though now surpassed by other deadly rampages, such as Virginia Tech and Newtown, Columbine is considered the one by which others are compared. Brian Fischer, a friend of Johnson’s, said the investigation confirmed what he knew all along: that the shooting was random.
Shooters in both cases had bombs, though Aguilar’s consisted of two makeshift devices cobbled together with fireworks and hidden in his backpack. Harris and Klebold had two large duffel bags with 20-pound propane bombs, “enough explosive power to kill the majority of the students” in the school’s cafeteria, the police report concluded. None of the bombs exploded. “We knew that Tyler could not do anything or cause anything to bring this upon himself,” said Fischer, 34. “Anybody who knew Tyler knew he was an amazing young man. . . . It just saddens me to know that things like this happen to people who absolutely don’t deserve it.”
And while Aguilar was carrying a shotgun that limited his ability to quickly fire precise shots, the Columbine shooters came with an arsenal — shotguns too, but also a Tec-DC-9 semiautomatic handgun and a Hi-Point 9mm carbine. With many victims trapped in confined spaces — such as the library and cafeteria — the shooters were able to get off many rounds, one using a shotgun, the other 9mm weapons. While Aguilar got off six to eight shots, the Columbine shooters fired off 188. Aguilar, who graduated in June from James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, had no criminal record. He worked at the Dunkin’ Donuts shop near his house in College Park and was supposed to open the store Saturday morning. Classmates said he did not stand out.
Police said Aguilar arrived at the mall in a taxi that pulled up about 10:15 a.m. near the Sears and Starbucks store, just after the shopping center opened. Surveillance cameras show him calmly walking inside with a backpack. He passed a merry-go-round, typically filled with children, and took the escalator down to the food court, where he lingered for about an hour — sitting, standing and pacing. Police said his troubles appeared to surface in January 2013. Over the next year, police said, an examination of his computer showed thousands of Internet queries on school and mall shootings, guns, making bombs and mass murder. McMahon said that the teen downloaded a game in which players can assume the role of a Columbine shooter, although it’s not known whether he played it.
Authorities have said they believe he kept the gun hidden in is backpack and took it out about 11:15 a.m. inside a dressing room off Zumiez, just steps from the escalator leading from the first floor. He emerged from the dressing room shooting, police said, leaving behind his backpack and the explosives. Police said they think he fired six to eight rounds, using the final round on himself. Five others were injured, one by buckshot, others in the frantic race to escape. But McMahon said that Aguilar also sought information on suicide and psychiatric issues. He once complained to a doctor of hearing voices but gave no indication that they urged violence, McMahon said. Police said the doctor recommended that Aguilar see a psychiatrist; there is no evidence that he did so.
At the College Park house where Aguilar lived with his mother, a man walked out Tuesday carrying two suitcases. The doctor followed up with Aguilar’s mother, McMahon said. The doctor told police that the mother promised to seek help, the chief said, but the mother told police that she doesn’t recall talking with the doctor.
“Please just leave my family alone,” he said as he left the house. McMahon said it was in the few weeks before the shooting that Aguilar acted on his searches, legally buying the pistol-gripped, pump-action shotgun at a store in Rockville and later going back for more ammunition. He was spotted by surveillance cameras in other stores, in one case looking for household cleaner for an explosive, and he bought a strap for his gun online.
Hoai-Tran Bui contributed to this report. Aguilar kept his handwritten journal private as well, and police have previous described the writings as disconnected and violent, including descriptions of him using marijuana and expressing “thoughts of wanting to die.” But police said he never mentioned specific places or people.
On Wednesday, police released a photo of one of the journal entries, in which he scratched: “I going to [expletive] kill you in a couple of hours. I’m anxious, I hate you all so much. You are pathetic pieces of [expletive] who deserve to die.”
Patrick Svitek and Hoai-Tran Bui contributed to this report.
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