Police searching for gunman in shooting outside High Point High School in Beltsville
BELTSVILLE, Md. - An Adelphi man fatally shot his estranged wife and wounded another man in a domestic-related shooting outside a Beltsville, Maryland high school Thursday afternoon, police said. The shooting happened at around 4:40 p.m. in the parking lot of High Point High School.
Prince George's County police are searching for 62-year-old Eulalio Tordil, an employee of the Federal Protective Service. Police said he left the area in a vehicle after the shooting.
Police said 44-year-old Gladys Tordil had come to the school to pick up her children. According to investigators, her estranged husband followed her in a car to the school's parking lot. He then got out of his vehicle and went to confront the mother as she sat in her SUV.
Prince George's County Police Chief Hank Stawinski said an adult male bystander saw the altercation and attempted to intervene. As he approached, the suspect pulled out a handgun and fired several times at the bystander, hitting him in the shoulder. The suspect then turned the weapon on the woman, shooting multiple times and killing her.
The male shooting victim was taken to hospital and is in stable condition. He is expected to survive.
According to FOX 5's Marina Marraco, witnesses said the female victim was the mother of two High Point High School students. A witness said one of the victim's daughters was just feet away from the shooting as it all happened.
“She saw the shooting happen,” said the witness. “She came out of the building on the side where the band room is and we had to just pull her right back in ... She just was very shocked, out of breath. The guy that specifically held on to her to pull her inside the building, he walked into the auditorium and had his head up traumatized from the situation.”
The shooting was captured on surveillance cameras at the school and detectives were reviewing them, police said.
Stawinski said the shooting was contained to the parking lot and no students were harmed or involved during the incident. School officials said students participating in after-school activities were secured after the shooting happened and they were later released to their parents in the evening. The school will open on time Friday and a crisis team will be available to students.
FOX 5's Marina Marraco was outside the school where there was a heavy presence of both Prince George's County police and fire crews in the back parking lot near the school's auditorium. The parking lot remained crowded with a number of cars.
One witness told FOX 5 he heard four gunshots come from the back parking lot of the school. A softball game was taking place on campus after school, and witnesses said they were rushed to an equipment room for safety until police arrived.
Concerned parents who showed up at the school after getting word of the incident were escorted inside by authorities.
Powder Mill Road, which runs in front of the high school, was shut down between Evans Trial and Cherry Hill Road as a result of the investigation.
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