A man carrying a shotgun opened fire at a busy shopping mall in suburban Baltimore, killing two employees of a skate shop and then himself as panicked shoppers ran for cover, police said. Five others were injured.
Police were still trying to determine the motive of the gunman who killed a man and a woman, both in their 20s, at a skate shop called Zumiez on the upper level of the Mall in Columbia yesterday.
Witnesses described hearing gunshots and screams as shoppers ducked into nearby stores and hid behind locked doors. Many found cover in stockrooms and barricaded themselves until the arrival of police, who searched store to store. By late afternoon, the mall had been cleared of shoppers and employees.
Howard County Police Chief William J McMahon said at a news conference that authorities had difficulty identifying the gunman because of concerns he was carrying explosives and were proceeding with an “abundance of caution.” By late Saturday, police said they had tentatively identified the gunman but declined to release his name while they followed up on leads.
“We do not know yet what caused the shooting incident,” he said. “We do not have a motive.”
A news release last night said that police found and disabled “two crude devices that appeared to be an attempt at making explosives using fireworks.” Police were searching the mall with dogs overnight, which is standard procedure, and the mall was to remain closed today.
Someone called the police emergency dispatcher at around 11:15 am to report a shooting at the mall. Police responded to the scene within 2 minutes and found three people dead, including the apparent gunman near a gun and ammunition, either inside or outside the shop, which sells skateboards, clothing and accessories. McMahon said police were confident there was a single gunman.
The mall is at the center of the town that’s a suburb of both Baltimore and Washington, and it typically opens at 10 a.M. On Saturdays. It was busy with shoppers and employees when the shots rang out before noon.
Police identified the victims as 21-year-old Brianna Benlolo and 25-year-old Tyler Johnson. Both worked at Zumiez.
Benlolo’s grandfather, John Feins, said in a telephone interview from Florida that his granddaughter had a 2-year-old son and that the job at Zumiez was her first since she went back to work after her son’s birth.
“She was all excited because she was the manager there,” he said.