ROCKVILLE, Md.— Police say they’ve seen no signs of remorse from a federal police officer accused of a two-day shooting spree in a string of suburban parking lots in Maryland that left three people dead and three wounded.
Eulalio Tordil, 62, of Adelphi is scheduled to make an initial court appearance Monday in Rockville, a suburb near the nation’s capital, on charges including first-degree murder.
Police said the shootings began Thursday when Tordil fatally shot his estranged wife — Gladys Tordil, a chemistry teacher — in a high-school parking lot. A bystander was wounded.
The shootings continued Friday at two different mall parking lots. At the first, one man was killed and his friend was wounded while coming to the aid of a woman, who also was wounded. At the second, a woman was shot and killed in her car.
Police said Saturday that the shootings a day earlier were likely botched carjackings. They also identified the victims who died in the Friday shootings: Malcom Winffel, 45, of Boyds, was shot and killed at the first crime scene Friday. Claudina Molina, 65, of Silver Spring, died at the final crime scene.
Montgomery County, Md. Police officers investigate the scene after a shooting outside the Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Md., Friday, May 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)Winffel’s family was not surprised to learn that he had died in an effort to help others.
“He was always helping people,” said his sister, Pilar Winffel, of Columbia. “If a friend of a friend was moving, he would go and help.”
At a news conference Saturday night, Montgomery County Assistant Police Chief Russ Hamill said Winffel and his friend, who was not identified, were coming to the carjacking victim’s aid when they were shot.
“Those two men acted selflessly and heroically, most likely saving her life,” Hamill said.
Hamill said Winffel’s friend, who was described Friday as being in grave condition, is “making progress. We remain hopeful he’ll survive.”
Hundreds of people attended a vigil remembering Winffel on Saturday evening at Clarksburg High School, where his two children are enrolled. A gofundme page set up to help the family with funeral expenses and the kids’ college expenses had received nearly $30,000 in donations as of Saturday evening.
In an interview Saturday evening, Pilar Winffel said her brother had gone to the mall for lunch with a friend from work. Witnesses told her that her brother was shot as the woman under attack by Tordil spotted Winffel in the parking lot and ran toward him for help. Winffel was shot with his arms extended, reaching out to help the woman, Pilar said. She was told Tordil was smiling as he fired the shots.
Eulalio Tordil. A manhunt was under way May 6, 2016, after authorities said they were looking into whether three fatal shootings in the Washington area were connected. (Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration via AP)At Saturday’s news conference, Hamill said Tordil spoke to investigators a little about the shootings. “I would not describe him as being remorseful,” Hamill said.
Hamill said a search of Tordil’s car uncovered a .40-caliber Glock handgun that was used in Friday’s shootings. Hamill said police believe it also was used in Thursday’s shooting of Gladys Tordil but that more testing is needed to confirm.
Tordil, a federal security officer employed by the Federal Protective Service, was put on administrative duties in March after a protective order was issued against him when his wife said he had threatened to harm her if she left him, The Washington Post reported. Tordil subjected their children to “intense-military-like discipline,” such as pushups and detention in a dark closet, according to the order.
The protective service said Tordil’s weapon, badge and credentials were taken when he was placed on leave.
Tordil also got into trouble in 2008; a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspector general says that Tordil entered into a civil settlement and paid HUD nearly $16,000 after he obtained a $27,000 discount on a property through a federal program but failed to live up to the program rules, which required him to live in the property where he received the discount.
Hamill said Saturday that Tordil appeared to have purchased the Glock after being subject to the protective order.
The charges against Tordil carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Maryland abolished the death penalty in 2013.
