Unclear whether mall gunman knew his victims

COLUMBIA, MD. — The gunman who shot two people to death at a Maryland mall had no criminal record, police said Sunday, but little else is known about the 19-year-old and whether he knew his victims before he killed them.

Darion Marcus Aguilar of College Park, Md., carried out Saturday’s attack with a 12-gauge shotgun at a skateboard shop at the Mall in Columbia in suburban Baltimore before killing himself, police said.

Howard County Police Chief William McMahon said investigators are trying to determine whether Aguilar knew either of the victims, who were both employees of a shop called Zumiez, which sells skateboards, clothing and accessories and is on the mall’s upper floor.

Police identified the victims as Brianna Benlolo, 21, of College Park, and 25-year-old Tyler Johnson of Mount Airy, Md. McMahon offered no motive for the shooting.

“There are a lot of unanswered questions,” McMahon said at a news conference.

Aguilar bought the shotgun legally last month at a store in neighbouring Montgomery County.

It took hours to identify the gunman since he was carrying ammunition and a backpack containing homemade explosives, McMahon said. Officers searched Aguilar’s home Saturday night, recovering more ammunition, computers and documents, police said.

The home is a two-storey woodframe house in a middle-income neighbourhood called Hollywood, just off U.S. Route 1 and near the Capital Beltway. No one answered the door Sunday morning at the house.

Aguilar and his mother were renters at the home. Sirkka Singleton, who owns the property with her husband and lives a block away, said they use a property manager to find tenants and they have never met the Aguilars.

Residents described the neighbourhood as a mix of owners and renters, including some University of Maryland students.

Katie Lawson, director of communications at the University of Maryland, said campus police told her that Aguilar had never been a student there.

She said she had no information on the two victims.

Aguilar graduated in 2013 from James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, Md., a spokesman for Montgomery County schools said.

A person who went to the same school told The Associated Press that Aguilar was an avid skateboarder.

Tydryn Scott, 19, said she was Aguilar’s lab partner in science class and described him as tall, skinny and quiet.

She said he was interested in skateboarding and hung out with other skaters.