Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)

4 dead, including suspect, after warehouse shooting

- The Associated Press

A woman working a temporary job at a drugstore warehouse in Maryland got into an argument at work Thursday morning and began shooting colleagues, killing three before fatally turning the gun on herself, authoritie­s and witnesses said.

Workers at the Rite Aid distributi­on center in northeaste­rn Maryland described terrifying moments of “crazy” gunfire and people screaming and running in all directions after the shooting. Others said they helped the wounded, one person tying blood-soaked jeans around a man’s injured leg in a bid to stop the bleeding.

Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said at a news conference that the woman was later identified as a temporary employee of the distributi­on center, Snochia Moseley of Baltimore County.

“She had reported for her workday as usual, and around 9 a.m. the shooting began, striking victims both outside the business and inside the facility,” Gahler said. “We do not at this time have a motive for this senseless crime.”

Krystal Watson, 33, said her husband, Eric, works at the facility and told her told her that the suspect had been arguing with somebody else near a time clock after a “town hall meeting.”

“And she went off,” she said.

“She didn’t have a particular target. She was just shooting,” Watson said as she drove away from a fire station where relatives tried to reunite with loved ones.

The sheriff said the call about shots fired came in at about 9:06 a.m. and deputies and other officers were on the scene in just over five minutes. The shooting began outside the business and continued inside, he said.

It appears only one weapon was used — a 9 mm Glock handgun that was registered in Moseley’s name — and no shots were fired by responding law enforcemen­t officers, Gahler said.

Walter Zambrano, 64, who described himself as a worker at the distributi­on center, said he was in the bathroom when shooting broke out and saw nothing as he hid, frightened for his life.

The person was “shooting like crazy,” Zambrano said, speaking in Spanish.

He said the gunfire seemed to go on several minutes, and when it was over he sprinted outdoors. On the way out, he said he saw a female co-worker down on the floor. The scene, he said, was one of chaos.

“Everyone was screaming, running this way and that. I didn’t know which way to run,” he said.

The sheriff said three victims were fatally shot and three more were wounded but were expected to survive. They were not immediatel­y identified. Moseley died at a hospital from a selfinflic­ted gunshot wound, Gahler said.

Area hospitals reported receiving five patients from the incident.

Susan Henderson, spokeswoma­n for the drugstore chain Rite Aid, described the building where the shooting took place as a support facility adjacent to a larger building. The company said in a statement that the facility had been closed temporaril­y and grief counselors will be made available to workers.

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