Hearing from a relative who has some friends on the local Howard County, Maryland police force. There are now questions about just where they found the body of the shooter. The police chief stated that all 3 bodies were located within the store.
However, according to witnesses, after killing the two victims in the store, the shooter did make his way out of the store onto the upper level of the mall and he did shoot at a couple of more people. One man went to the hospital with a few pellets in his foot. That man was in the lower level food court during the shooting. The shooter could not have fired from inside the store to the food court below. He would have had to been leaning over the rail and firing down.
Another woman on the upper level stated that she was in the corridor of the mall a couple of stores away when the shooter emerged from the store. He raised the shotgun pointing at her and she made eye contact with him. She stood stunned but then heard her husband shout at her from some distance away to get down. She hit the ground and a shotgun blast riddled the wall behind her. Her husband was apparently on an escalator heading up when he saw what was going on and started running up toward them. In his haste, he apparently tried to cut a shortcut near the top of the escalator and hit a suspended structural beam and broke his jaw, sending him to the hospital in the aftermath as well.
Add to this that a shotgun can be rather difficult for a young fellow to shoot himself with. Granted, not impossible but worth questioning. Was the shotgun barrel sawed off? Did anybody actually see the shooter kill himself? Will somebody ask these witnesses to clarify just where the shooter was when they saw him? The police chief stated that they were able to review the mall cameras and see when he arrived at the mall, what he did for an hour at the mall up until when he walked into the store and killed the two employees. But nothing was mentioned about what the cameras showed after the two employees were gunned down.
Side note: There was a customer (a teenage male) in the store and standing in the shooter’s sight behind the young lady and he hit the floor just as the first shot was fired killing the girl. He said that he was surprised that the shooter did not see him. The counter area where the girl was located was apparently an island arrangement toward the middle of the floor so when the young witness dropped, he was hidden by the counter and closer to the front of the store and he scrambled on his hands and knees out of the store. This witness stated that he first saw the shooter emerge with the shotgun from a changing area near the back of the store and walk up to the counter to shoot the young lady and then turn and shoot the young male employee.
Did the store have it’s own security cameras? Did the mall cameras pick up the shooter emerging from the store back into the mall as witness statements and evidence appear to indicate? Perhaps a clarification of witness accounts, police photo of the actual gun used and a public release of the shooter’s autopsy report might help? How long until the press looks at all the information gathered to date and says, “Hmmm....”?
Basically, from what I am understanding, the thought behind the rumors are that the shooter was actually taken out by either an off-duty cop or a private citizen CCW permit holder outside the store in the upper level mall corridor, not in the store as the police chief stated, but the state officials (read: Maryland liberals) do not want that info to get out because it will only serve to promote the conservative 2nd Amendment agenda.
Time will tell but it may be worth keeping an eye on.
Besides here, I am the only one that seems to question how one shoots oneself with a longarm. Yes, could be sawed off, but usually they jump on that detail. Still difficult.
As far as who would’ve shot him, I seriously doubt a regular citizen. I know this place, and not only are firearms prohibited, but few normal people going there would even dare think of touching a firearm, much less having one and carrying. Even barring that, few regular people would keep quiet about their heroism in such a situation.
If shooter was killed by ccw holder that will be the last info. to be released or on page 6 of the usual news rag which has only 6 pages today due to lack of readership....
Maryland Mall Shooter Was Soft Spoken Vegan Skateboarder, Used Legal Mossberg Shotgun
January 27 2014
by Dan Cannon
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I’m not going to make assumptions here and say that we have another public shooting (this incident doesn’t meet the criteria to be called a mass shooting) committed by a left leaning person, but we do have some new facts in the Maryland mall shooting case.
According to numerous media outlets, Darion Marcus Aguilar was a vegan and a skateboarder. The two people he shot were both inside of a local skateboard apparel shop. There may have been some connection there rather than this being a random act of violence. Aguilar committed suicide before police arrived, but he still had plenty of ammunition to keep firing if mass casualties were his goal.
Aguilar’s mother and friends describe him as friendly and outgoing, if not a little soft spoken.
The Mossberg shotun Aguilar used was legally purchased. Aguilar underwent and passed a background check to obtain the firearm. No expanded background checks would have prevented Aguilar from purchasing the shotgun. Firearms such as shotguns are legal even in countries such as Great Britain and Mexico, which have very strict gun control laws.
The shotgun was also completely legal under Maryland law. Last year Maryland passed some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, banning the purchase of some types of firearms.
We also know that Maryland is a “may issue” state for concealed carry permits, meaning that it is usually pretty hard for average citizens to get a permit to carry a firearm for protection. On top of that, the mall this incident happened at has a policy of no firearms. Aguilar ignored Maryland’s concealed carry laws and the mall’s policy.
Police are still trying to find a motive for the shooting. They did uncover a journal that showed Aguilar was experiencing some unhappiness with life, but nothing specific has been released yet.
Sources: CNN, TIME, ABC News, Baltimore Sun