Prayer vigil held to remember victims in Md. shooting spree

GAITHERSBURG, Md. - A prayer vigil was held in Gaithersburg Monday night for the victims wounded in a shooting spree last week in both Montgomery and Prince George's County.

Eulalio Tordil, a federal security officer for the Federal Protective Service, has been charged in the death of his estranged wife, 44-year-old Gladys Tordil, outside of High Point High School in Beltsville, 45-year-old Malcom Winffel at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, and 65-year-old Claudina Molina in the parking lot of a Giant supermarket store in Aspen Hill. Three other people were also shot in these incidents.

It has been three days since three different families were struck by this tragedy.

"I'm going to miss her a lot because she was very nice and she was a very sweet person," said one person who knew Molina.

"He was a hero and I'm very proud to know that now everybody can see what a hero he was to me and my family," said one relative of Winffel.

Authorities say Tordil shot and killed his estranged wife as she was picking up her children at High Point High School. For nearly 18 hours, Tordil managed to escape police until they say he turned up at Westfield Montgomery Mall Friday morning.

"I had just come out of a training session for active shooters ironically," said Norma Winffel, the widow of Malcom Winffell.

She called her husband just minutes before he was gunned down to tell him about the training she had just attended.

"I remember thinking, 'Gosh, I didn't get to tell him run, run, run away from danger,'" said Norma. "But he wouldn't have listened because that was the man he was."

Malcom Winffel and his coworker, Carl Unher, who remains in the hospital recovering from his gunshot wounds, were about to treat themselves to lunch at the mall when they heard a woman's cry for help in the parking lot.

"She was screaming, she was running towards them, and when they looked back, they ran towards her to help her," Norma Winffel told FOX 5.

Malcom Winffel, coincidentally a High Point High School graduate, knew of the deadly shooting outside his old school. But his wife said he had no idea who Tordil was. She believes Prince George's County police should have released Tordil's picture sooner to make the public aware of him.

"Absolutely," she said. "Not only that, but given that [Tordil] had a protective order from his wife, I believe he should have disarmed."

In the immediate aftermath of Gladys Tordil's murder, police labeled the homicide as a domestic incident. Prince George's County police said their information showed that Tordil was a danger to himself and officers, but not to the general public.

"I am disappointed that not more was done," Norma Winffel told us. "I am truly disappointed. [Tordil's wife] wouldn't have been hurt, my husband and the other person would not have been killed. The police at least knew what to look for, but the people there had no one to avoid. They didn't know what to avoid."

"It was very rapid, it was unfolding so quickly," said Prince George's County State's Attorney Angela Alsobrooks. "It is easier I think in hindsight to say what could have happened, what should have happened, but the truth of it is, that the two law enforcement agencies in this case, Prince George's and Montgomery, did a yeoman's job in terms of arresting this guy without a single shot."

Eulalio Tordil is being held without bond and is being charged with first-degree murder and other related charges in all three shootings.

The Victims' Rights Foundation is raising money for the victims in the shootings. To make a donation, go to www.victimsrightsfoundation.org. The donation drive to raise funds for the victims will end on May 30.

GoFundMe donation pages have been created for the victims. Learn more on how to donate here: www.fox5dc.com/news/138743681-story