Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
i i
hide captionTwo people embrace in the parking lot at the scene of a shooting at The Mall in Columbia on Saturday, in Columbia, Md.
Evan Vucci/AP
Two people embrace in the parking lot at the scene of a shooting at The Mall in Columbia on Saturday, in Columbia, Md.
Evan Vucci/AP
Police have identified the gunman who killed two people at a Maryland shopping mall before taking his own life, but officials say they still don't know why he did it or whether the assailant had any relationship with the victims.
As we reported on Saturday, the shooting occurred at about 11 a.m. at the Mall of Columbia in the Baltimore suburb of Columbia, Md.
Howard County Police Chief Bill McMahon said Darion Marcus Aguilar, 19, acted alone when he entered the sprawling hopping complex. Aguilar was carrying a 12-gauge shotgun and a "large amount of ammunition," McMahon said in a news conference on Sunday. He fired six to eight shots, killing a man and a woman who The Washington Post says were employees of a clothing store for skateboarders and snowboarders called Zumiez, located on the mall's second level.
"We have not been able to identify any relationship between him and either of the victims," McMahon told reporters. "But we are working on that."
McMahon said police found a backpack near Aguilar's body containing crude explosives mad of "flash powder and household items." He said the devices were "not very sophisticated" and were easily rendered safe by police.
He said Aguilar's body "was not booby-trapped" and that police had methodically searched the mall, determining there were no other explosives on the premises.
