Federal cop opens fire in two Mont County shopping malls, 3 dead

Federal Protective Services officer Eulalio Tordil was arrested without being shot after shooting and killing three people, first killing his estranged wife, then showing up at two different shopping malls and opening fire. He was arrested "without incident" raising the question of whether his status as a police officer kept him from being shot himself.

First he shot his estranged wife in a high school parking lot. The next day he showed up armed at Westfield Montgomery Mall in and opened fire, wounding three people, one of whom died in the hospital with another reported in "grave condition. Finally he showed up at the Aspen Hill Shopping Center on Ga Ave and opened fire again, killing a woman in or near the Giant food store. A police siege resulted with schools being locked down, yet he was arrested "without incident" in Aspen Hill.

Schools and rec centers were locked down, news broadcasts told people to "shelter in place" against this single armed gunman. It is even suspected that the people he shot on Friday were unknown to him, unlike his wife who he murdered the previous day. Incidents like this sometimes end in shootings by police (other than the offender) and sometimes end in arrests. In all cases they are very, very tense with all the attacker's opponents on hair-trigger and expecting to shoot. Somehow, this brutally violent rampage ended in a nonviolent arrest.

This looks like a "Blue Lives Matter" incident, in which Mr Tordil's status as a police officer prevented other police from shooting him. Had be been a member of MS-13 instead of the Federal Protectice Services, he likely would have been shot while attempting to surrender. It is even possible that any shopper using a weapon of their own to defend their lives would have risked prosecution for assaulting a police officer while armed or at least for having the weapon, even if the cop in question was carrying out a crime spree.

Officer Eulalia Tordil's wife had gotten a protective order against him, among other things he was supposed to turn in all his firearms. This put him on "administrative leave" but he was not fired. Also, nobody verified that he had gotten rid of ALL his firearms, given that people who have threatened the lives of family members are disqualified from owning guns.Thus,"Blue Lives Matter" privilige may have helped to pave the way for this murderous rampage in Montgomery County, MD and if nothing else shielded the murderer from being shot down at the scene of his crimes.

As an activist who has faced off against a few undisciplined members of the Federal Protective Services at FERC and elsewhere, I have to assume that if I had been in that Giant buying food, I might have been targeted myself, with Tordil thinking "there's that goddamned protester with the camera, guess I'll shoot him too."