according to police, the shooting started on the upper level of the mall. the columbial, which is halfway between baltimore and washington. when it was over, three people were dead, including the suspected gunman who apparently shot himself. at least four people were taken to the hospital, and according to the tweets to the fire department, apparently one of those people was shot in the foot. howard county police say they don't yet know the motive. we'll have the latest on the investigation in a press conference which is expected to start momentarily. a lot of key questions have yet to be answered in the shooting. >> absolutely. the columbia mall, just for folks not familiar with the area, is located in suburban baltimore. about 45 minutes from here in the nation's capital. shaky customers have been making their way outside. molly, what can you tell us at this point? >> reporter: we have heard from a white house official, that president obama has been briefed on this shooting in columbia, maryland. as for the scene here, we saw a number of s.w.a.t. team officials leavin

. >>> we are live at the columbia mall right now. we're expecting police to hold a news conference with new information on the shooting yesterday that left three people dead there inside the mall including the gunman. that news conference should start in about 20 minutes. we'll bring it to you live. >>> in other news, a rockville man is facing second degree murder charges. he was arrested for the shooting death of 20-year-old purr vis. he was found near the corner of yuma a week ago. officials rushed him to the hospital where he later died. >>> the west virginia plant responsible for the water crisis has a deadline of mid march to remove above ground tanks. the state governor order freedom industries to get rid of 17 tanks and 1 million gallons of chemicals. the spill earlier this month cut off water to 300,000 people in the state. >>> a popular retail chain could be dealing with a data breach similar to the one that stole information from target shoppers. the arts and crafts store michaels is investigating a possible data hack that c

. >> we have an active shooter at the columbia mall. last seen in the food court. kids are hiding in the bathroom. >> tonight, people gather at a vigil for the victims. good evening. i'm christ gordon. the columbia mall will remain closed tomorrow as investigators comb the crime scene. this is video of investigators inside the mall searching for evidence. tonight, howard county police say they have tentatively identified the shooter, and say they believe that he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. investigators are still looking for answers about what led the man to open fire inside. shots rang out shortly after 11:00 this morning. three people, including the gunman, were found dead at the store on the mall's second level. now, the name of the gunman has not been released, but police say that he was armed with a large amount of ammunition. news4's erica gonzalez is live at the columbia mall tonight with new information about more weapons found on the shooter. erica? >> reporter: just a few minutes ago, police revealed they located a bag next to the shooter. insi

i want to thank the public of howard county here in columbia for their patience. the folks here at the columbia mall, for their patience. all of the shoppers, the other folks that work here at the mall. this is obviously been a tremendously trying few hours and we've seen a lot of cassi patience. this is an active crime scene. it is going to be an active crime scene for some time and around 4:00 we'll give you more details. thankly i want to thank our brave men and women in law enforcement here in howard count high rushed into the scene immediately. this was an incredibly well-run, thoughtful operation, tactically, with a lot of help from our neighboring agencies. we've had help on the ground and continue to have help on the ground from virtually every police kept in our region including the state police. and we really appreciate that. now, i want to bring up our police chief bill mcmahon who's been leading this operation on the ground. thank you. >> that, mr. executive. bill mcmahon, i'm the chief of police here in howard county. let me echo a couple thoughts from the county executive before i give

the families. live at columbia mall, i'm nikki, wusa9. >> okay, nikki, thanks. we want to give you a better idea where this morning's shooting took place. the store is zumiez is located on the second floor of columbia mall in the c wing just outside the sears store and overlooks the food court. victims were found inside the store and the gunman as we reported was found just outside that store. right now, columbia mall is one huge crime scene. all night long, nobody allowed in, but police. mola is live with more on the investigation. mola. >> well, bruce, police were called here at 11:15 to investigate what now appears to be a murder suicide. they are still here tonight. inside and outside the mall in columbia, the facility is still taped off. there are about half a dozen cops outside. various points in the parking lot and even more inside as investigators continue to search the building. they will be combing through with canines throughout the night. this afternoon, it was certainly a scary scene for those who were inside when those shots were fired. witnesses de

. >>> right now at 6:00, new details just coming in about the gunman in the shooting inside the columbia mall. the missing persons report filed just hours after the deadly shooting, plus reaction from his neighbors. >> i'm grateful. i'm grateful actually. >> and reaction from shoppers and employees returning to work to pick up their belongings today. i'm erica gonzalez, we're awaiting a press conference by howard county police set to begin outside the columbia mall any minute now. police just tweeted that the mall will reopen tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. this is a little more than 48 hours after the deadly shooting. tonight we're learning more about the gunman, 19-year-old darion aguilar of college park. police say he walked in and opened fire in the zumiez store. police believe aguillar turned the gun on himself. two federal law enforcement officials say the incident appears to be domestic in nature but howard county police have not confirmed that. david culver has more about the gunman but we begin first with derrick ward outside the columbia mall. derrick? >> reporter: as you said, there will be

the area. columbia mall is 45 minutes from washington, d.c. ave very few details about this shooting right now. we will keep you updated on the story throughout this hour. hello, everybody. i'm uma pemmaraju, live in washington. the latest on that story and more. in the meantime, let's move on to another big story making news. 10,000 american spectators and athletes get ready to travel to russia. many are questioning how safe sochi will be for the big olympic games there. amid growing fears of possible terror attacks. can vladimir putin make good on his promise of ring of steel around these games? molly henneberg is joining us now live with details on the latest security measures in place. >> defense secretary chuck hagel says russia has not requested specific help from the u.s. to he prop text the societe generale games that start -- protect the sochi games that start next month. but they have military action in the region, including two ships. hagel says there are contingency plans if there were a significant terror attack. >> we need to extr

news 4 today continues. >>> tragedy and chaos at the mall this morning. columbiased for a second day as police investigate the shooting that left three dead including the gunman. howard county police say they have identified the shooter but have not released his name. investigators believe he took his own life. >> police say they found a bag next to the gunman that had two crude explosive devices made with fireworks. police plan to release more information at the news conference at 9:30. we're going to carry that live here on news 4 today. good morning everyone. welcome to news 4 today. i'm angie goff. >> i'm richard jordan. now one big question remains, why did this man open fire sending a mall of shoppers scrambling for their lives. police are combing the mall for the news. erika gonzalez spoke to people that survived the dchaos. >> reporter: columbia mall and shoppers sent into a frenzy. >> they kept shooting. it didn't stop. >> reporter: witnesses say the unidentified gunman confirmed dead fired up to ten shots outside zumiez skate shop. >> the weapon was foun

columbia mall. as we said before, the mall is closed, probably will be closed for the next couple of days. it is a major crime scene. five people from the mall in columbia were sent to howard county general hospital. within the last 45 minutes, all were released from the hospital, including one person who had been shot. our reporter is at the hospital with more. >> reporter: five people from the mall in columbia shooting were sent here to the howard county hospital's emergency room. just been the last 45 minutes, all five of them were released, including one of the victims who was shot. we're told that victim was shot in the foot. hospital staff won't say exactly under what circumstances that person was shot. but again, they were shot in the foot and released from the hospital. the other four, also just released, were not shot at the mall, but hospital staff say they, quote, sustained injuries as a result of the situation. they didn't clarify, but we are told they were injured in the hustle and bustle of trying to get out of the mall once they heard the gunshots. hospital staff does say whi

the columbia mall is still a crime scene tonight after a gunman hoopened fire inside. this is a live look inside the mall, at least three people were shot and killed outside the zumez store. we have just learned the identities of the dead, they're a 29-year-old and 25-year-old tyler johnson, they were both employees at that zumez store, the gunman was armed with -- dorsey spencer spoke to witnesses who ran after hearing the shots. erica gonzalez has new details. we begin with derek ward, he's got the latest on the investigation that's under way. howard county police are working on it. derek? >> reporter: indeed they are, doreen, take a look at the shopping center parking lot behind me, aside from the flashing lights, there doesn't seem to be anything remarkable about it. we have learned more about the victims and not about the shooter and why u police say th incident centered around a store on the upper level of the mall, a clothing store called zumeys. >> the two deceased, there was an adult male and an adult female. they were in their 20s. they were both employees of

i want to thank the public of howard county here in columbia for their patience ch the folks here at the columbia mallor their patience. all of the shoppers, the other folks that work here at the mall, this has obviously been a tremendously trying few hours and we've seen a lot of patient shens. we'd ask that people continue to bear with us. this is an active crime scene. is it going to be an active crime scene for some time. another briefing around 4:00 with more details and potentially when the mall will reopen. lastly, i want to thank our brave men and women in law enforcement here in howard county who rushed into the scene immediately. this was an incredibly well-run, thoughtful operation tactically with a lot of help from our neighboring agencies. we've had help on the ground and continue to have help on the ground from virtually every police department in our region including the state police. now i want to bring up our police chief bill mcman who has been leading this operation on the ground. thank you. >> thank you mr. checktive. bill mcmahon. let me echo some of his comments. as you can imagi

. >>> right now we're check ought the new information we received in the columbia mall shooting information. the shooter's name, darion marcus aguilar. we're digging through online profiles to get more information. we're going to let you know developments as their coming through. >> high temperatures today in the low 30s. another arctic blast is weights. four hours on the slopes. and two hours doing this stuff. which leaves me approximately two minutes to get my banking done. so i use the citi mobile app to quickly check my accounts and pay my bills. which leaves me about five seconds to kick back. that was nice. bank from almost anywhere with the citi mobile app. citi, with you every step of the way. >>> we are staying on top of breaking news we are following this morning regarding the shooting at the columbia mall yesterday. police have identified the gunman, 19-year-old darion marcus aguilar from college park. he fired six to eight shots in the mall yesterday killing two employees at the zumiez skater shop inside the mall. >> they haven't been able to pinpoint if there was any type of re

efforts to return to a sense of normalcy after a tragedy at the popular mall. columbia mall will reopen tomorrow afternoon. police say darion aguilar shot two people and then himself. detectives are trying to figure out what connection, if any, aguilar has with the victims. officers served a search warrant at his home. among the items seized, a journal expressing unhappiness in his life. tonight, we are hearing from a young man who went to school with aguilar. tom is outside the columbia mall with what that friend had to say. he and another friend we communicated with absolutely could not believe this. columbia mall is set to open tomorrow afternoon at 1:00. tonight, it is still a crime scene. officers are still on scene and they are trying to figure out what the motive was in this shooting. tonight, howard county police say, at this point, they have not been able to establish any relationship between the shooter and the two victims. >> there is still speculation that there is somehow some romantic involvement in this thing. we have not been able to establish that. i am

the mall will reopen at 1:00 on monday. there will be two memorials here. richard reeve, abc 7 news. management has announced that columbia mall will reopen tomorrow at 1:00. personal who left property in the mall's common areas were allowed to pick up their belongings today at the pnc building. emergency situation that is related to property left inside the mall encouraged to call the mall's public safety office. the number is on your screen. stay with abc 7 news and wjla.com as we follow the latest on this shooting. look for breaking news updates on our social media platforms, facebook and twitter. we will turn to the weather. we have one school delay already to pass along for tomorrow. frederick county public schools in virginia will operate on a two-hour delay on monday. i imagine as we go into tuesday we will probably hear a lot of delays and possible cancellations. >> absolutely. it will be because of the extreme windchill factors on the way come tuesday morning. we will have windchill that will make it feel about 10 to 20 degrees colder than that. right at freezing at dulles international airport. 31 and fredericks

is the message at the front entrance of the mall and another equally important message voiced by so many here to the entire community, and it is this, come on back to the mall in columbia, and show your support. just before the mall reopened, a brief ceremony at the memorial outside of the front entrance in columbia with the two zumiez's employees who were killed saturday. officials brought flowers and asked for a moment of silence. >> we need to e reflect on our role to see what we can do on our part to make our communities and society a better place. thank you. >> reporter: with that, they walked into the mall which opened for business and the fir first time since saturday's fatal shooting at zumiez's, there is a memorial at the food court, and a second memorial book for people to write their condolences. ken ullman and his wife ordered lunch today. >> we are back to business here, and our patrons are back to business. >> and two were hugged by elijah cummings of baltimore when they said they were friends with the murder victim tyler johnson. and governor martin o'malley said, we are all in this together. >> i wanted to be here, i suppose as a symbol of the fact that

. >> about 11:15 this morning our 911 center received a number of calls for shots fired at the columbia mallwe had officers quickly get into the area. we were able to identify three victims at an upper level store in the columbia mall. one of those victims appears to be the shooter. at this point, again, please bear with me. this is two hours, two hours 15 minutes since the incident, there are still a lot of details we need to confirm. right now we think one of the e deceased is the shooter. we do not think there are any more shooters in or around the mall. we are going through a process right now. think about this on a saturday afternoon at the mall how many people may be in there. when something like this happens, people run in many directions and they also do what actually we trained people to do and that is to shelter in place. right now we have many, many people still in the mall that have secured themselves inside stores. our s.w.a.t. teams with a lot of support from agencies throughout the state, at the local state and federal level are going through, they are inside continuing to cle

the mall and it has been cleared. as you know, the mall will not be open the rest of the day and evening. i want to thank the folks of the columbiaooperative and working with us. our folks have been here before to train with the mall security folks. they know how to react to incidents like this, unfortunately. and everyone did exactly what they were trained to do. i also want to have -- give a very large thanks to our community at large. there were a lot of people here at the columbia mall saturday morning at 11:15. this was a very scary incident. the chief is going to walk through the details again. this did happen at a store on the second floor that is above the food court. so there was a lot of discussion about the food court. there were a lot of people very close to where this happened. and i just want to thank everyone for their patience. folks sheltering a place, being vigilant, doing what their instincts told them to do. this is a very, very large crime scene. people are being incredibly patient and working with us. we are an incredibly safe community in howard county and here in columbia. and we're an incredibly strong, c

the mall. about 11:15 this morning we received a number of calls and shots fired at the columbia mall. we had officers quickly get into the area, and we were able to identify three victims in an upper level store in the columbia mall. bear with me, this is two hours into the incident, there are still a lot of details we need to confirm. we think one of the deceased is, in fact, the shooter. we do not think that there is any more shooters in or around the mall. we're going through a process right now, please think about this on a saturday afternoon at the mall how many people may be in there. when something like this happens people run in many directions and we do what we've trained people to do, and that is to shelter and place. we have many, many people still in the mall that have secured themselves inside stores. our s.w.a.t. teams with a lot of support remains on the state at the local state and federal level, frankly. are going through. as we held this press conference they are inside continue to go clear that mall to make sure there aren't any more victims. and to get those people

. >> at is 1:15, they received a number of calls of shots fired at the columbia mall. we had officers quickly get into the area, and we were able to identify three victims at the columbia mall. one of those victims appears to be the shooter. we do not have an identity for the shooter yet. we do not have a motive for the shooting. we're still trying to secure the mall to make sure again that there is nobody else injured, and then we're getting our investigators into that crime scene to start doing their work which will enable me to answer some of those many questions that you have that frankly i just can't answer right now because i don't have the information. >> that was police chief bill mcmahon. just before he came to speak to the press county executive kennalmakenallman spoke. let's hear what he had to say. >> we have three confirmed fatalities. we want to send our thoughts and prayers to the family members and loved ones of the victims. all the shoppers, all those who work here at the mall this has been a tremendously trying few hours. and we've seen a lot of patien

the mall. we've been covering this story out of columbia, maryland. s happened around 11:00 this morning. so we're a couple hours removed from it, but authorities say they do believe the suspected gunman is among the dead. police do note

i want to thank the public of howard county here in columbia for their patience. the folks here at the columbia mall. for their patients. all the shoppers, the other folks that work here at the mall, this has obviously been a tremendously trying few hours. we've seen a lot of patience. we ask people to continue to bear with us. this is an active crime scene. it is going to be an active crime season for some time. we will give you another briefing around 4:00 with more details and potentially when the mall will reopen. lastly, i want to thank our brave men and women in law enforcement here in howard county who rushed into this scene immediately. this was an incredibly well-run, thoughtful operation, tactically with a lot of help from our neighboring agencies. we've had help on the ground and continue to have help on the ground from virtually every police department in our region, including the state police. we really appreciate that. now i want to bring up our police chief bill mcmahon who has been leading this operation on the ground. thank you. >> thank you, mr. executive. i'm the chief of police h

even inviting members of the public to come here and grieve. columbia mall'ssouth entrance tonight. a memorial to slain workers, brianna benlolo and tyler johnson, grows by the hour. the mall reopened for business at 1:00 this afternoon. but no one is hiding the grief. >> i wanted to get away from work. i wanted to sit down in silence. >> inside, congressman elijah cummings consoled two shattered mall visitors. >> we have to not let the violence stop us from doing the things we normally do. >> just before the 1:00 p.m. reopening, hundreds of employees entered together after a meeting inside a theater, most were solemn and carrying flowers. inside, zumiez, the store where benlolo and johnson were senselessly gunned down is now boarded wop a simple white memorial wall acknowledging the tragedy. >> we wanted to be here to show our respects to the victims. but also to let the community know that the mall is open and we're going to go back about our lives. >> get back to normal. >> for it

we wrapped that up around 2:00 this morning and we were able to turn the interior of the mall back over to the columbia mall officials so they could start the process of what it takes to reopen the mall. our work with the mall and on this case will continue. obviously we want to find out why this occurred. we want to find out if there is any relationship between the shooter and our victims. the mall, as the exec mentioned, is closed today. the mall will open no later than tuesday but they are working very, very diligently to get that -- get this mall opened earlier than that. and ourselves and the mall will be providing some more detail as those decisions are made. couple important things that are taking place today that our public will be interested in. again, put yourself in the picture of being at the columbia mall on a saturday morning when the shooting takes place. lots of people left, they dropped what they had. they sheltered in place. for people that left personal items in the common areas of the mall -- not the stores yet but in the common areas of the mall, they will have the opportunity to p

a reverse track was placed on aguilar's phone and located in the area of the columbia mall. he opened fire inside that mall saturday and killed two people for before turning the gun on himself. at the live desk, scott mcfarlane. >>> right now at 5:00, a major construction project at the heart of the district. >> it will cause major traffic tie-ups for years. >> reporter: how about a four year long traffic construction project and impacts for that entire length of time. coming up. >> reporter: that's the iii street. imagine it covered over and huge buildings on top of it. and the traffic impact it will cause. coming up. >>> it was the state of the union interview that upstaged the president. a congressman threatens a reporter with physical violence. now, an "abc news" crew was confronting him to get answers. >> do you regret what took place? >> reporter: a rare look at an >>> fast forward through the headlines. manhunt on the way after an employee was shot at an electron electronics store. it's not clear what led up to the shooting but police say the gun marsh ran off after it

memorial gathering are being planned at the columbia mall and outside a high school in colorado springs. and skate boarding enthusists are planning a ride to remember the friends who worked at the boarded up skate board shop at the mall. >> early in this investigation, investigators did seize a journal here at aguilar's home. it did contain some indication of sadness, but again, no specific details it would explain a motive, but clearly today with a new front opening, scouring his financial records, investigators are not giving up trying to solve this mystery. reporting live in college park, scott broom, wusa9. >> scott, thank you. in other news we're following for you, an investigation into possible misconduct by administrators at loudoun valley high school is expanding. more interviews are supposed to happen tomorrow just as the school board prepares to discuss the first report tonight. peggy fox joins us from loudoun valley high school with the very latest. so peggy, when will we get to see this report? >> well that, is a good question, jan. it looks like we won't. even though only t

aguilar m here to burtonsville on the morning before the mall murders. >> reporter: college park in prince george's county and burtonsville in montgomery county, and the columbia mall is in howard county, and three pivot points in darion aguilar's life on the day of the murderous attack on the mall. 4704 hollywood road, the aguilar home in college park. 5:15 saturday morning, the police say that aguilar tells his mother that he is leaving to walk to the his job at the dunkin' donuts, and aguilar works at the dun kkin' donuts about a mile from the home on the other side of the beltway near the ikea store. aguilar did not show up for work that morning, and instead, he ended up here in burtonsville, and why did he come to burtonsville? did he keep his gun stashed somewhere around here? we don't know for sure. but we do know this, later that morning he took a cab. the destination -- the mall. 10:15 saturday morning. that is the time that police say that aguilar arrived at the mall. he hung out there for about an hour before he began the shooting spree. now, he could is opened fire anywhere in the mall, but he chose the zumiez store for his mu murder scene. zumiez

little by little, with we are learning more about the movements of darion aguilar before those murders at the mall. >> reporter: on the morning of the columbia mall murders, the shooter, darion aguilar left his home in college park at 5:15 and went to the burtonsville area of montgomery county apparently to see someone. sources familiar with the investigation say that later that saturday morning, aguilar took a barwood cab from this wendy's on briggs cheney road to the columbia mall. according to sources, aguilar used a smartphone app to the summon the cab. sat quietly slouched this the back seat of the cab. carried a backpack that appeared to be heavy. paid the driver $40, and $27 for the fare, and $13 for the tip. and now, after the driver heard about the shootings on the radio, he called police to say that he had dropped off someone at the mall who appeared to be, quote, weird. now, back to that wendy's off briggs cheney road, and today, i talked to mary and she works here and she recognized the picture of aguilar that i showed r and she says that he would sometimes hang out here with other young people, and she remembers him as being cou

. >> tonight we've learned that two of the people killed in today's mall shooting were employees at a skate shop located on the upper level of the columbia mall. they've been identified as 25-year-old tyler johnson and 21-year-old bree anna of college park. the shooter has not been identified at this point. the mall has been cleared and remains closed at this hour. we want to give you a like look over the scene right now. howard county police found a shotgun and am in addition beside the suspected shooter. we have eyewitness accounts. we're going to start with the chief who has been on the scene all day. >> when this happened the mall was packed. hundreds if not thousands of people were inside. at this point many of them were sheltering in place. at this point they have all been removed from the mall but the entirety of the mall remains a crime scene even though the focus is one store in the upper level. >> this cell phone video shows the frantic moments as a group of mall pay trons and workers some with hands in the air make tony: safety. >> like many -- it to safety. >> it was a big noise. >> it was so close. you knew there were gunsho

typically, cylinder in shape >>> the investigation into the columbia mall shooting continues. and tonight, police are passing out this flier to stores at the mall looking for more information about the shooter. it says darion aguilar frequented the mall and hang out outside there and smoke in small groups. also today, the search for answers led detectives back to the shooter's home. >> i'm scott broom outside the home of columbia mall shooter, darion aguilar. at the aguilar home in college park, two detectives visit and find no one to talk to. but howard county police communicating on twitter say now 19-year-old shooter, darion aguilar's financial records are one way they are trying to reconstruct his activities, leading up to the shotgun attack on the columbia mall saturday. police report they are not finished yet scouring aguilar's computer and the cell phone recovered from his body. so far, there remains no evidence that aguilar knew either victim, 19-year-old tyler johnson or 21-year-old single mom, brianna benlolo. curious parallels in the lives of benlolo and aguilar lead

, at the mall at columbia in maryland. ou're looking at aerial pictures right now of the parking lots because every now and then you see a steady stream of people being allowed to exit the mall. those people, employees and patrons who were inside the mall at the shooting that police are saying right now there is not yet completely secured the scene of that mall. there continue to be some people inside, because they found themselves in secure areas. they tried to seek shelter exactly where they were. so police are methodically now going through, interviewing people to make sure that they indeed have no other active shooters on the scene, but police saying very confidentially during the last hour that they believe that this was carried out by the hands of a single shooter, and the single shooter is among the three that are dead. another press briefing will be coming from howard county police at 4:00 eastern time. an hour and a half from now. >>> meantime, our justice correspondent evan perez, crime and justice correspondent e

the mall. behind me there appears to be a couple hundred people gathered outside the mall this afternoon. many of them are clearly mall employees and this gives you a feel for the outpouring in the columbia community in the wake of this terrible tragedy. immediately saturday friends of the young viims here took to facebook and twitter to share their pain and this gathering you're witnessing right now is one result. the now familiar faces of the victims, 21-year-old single mom briana benlolo and 19-year-old tyler johnson killed by a suicidal, angry, disillusioned 19-year-old darion aguilar whose journal entries indicated he was hiding mental illness from his family and was planning an attack, but was not specific. the expressions young people are making can be seen on the boarded up walls of the zumies skateboard shop inside the mall, appeals to stop the killing and needless death. outside the mall today visitors are still stunned by the shotgun attack by aguilar here. >> you can't walk past the memorial without having tears. it's really sad. >> how do you protect yourself from something like this? you don't anticipate that. i just feel so sorry for her. >> i'm still kind of down, but i h

the home. one person has minor injuries. >>> tomorrow columbia mall in maryland will open for its very first full day of business since the deadly shooting over the weekend, but zumies which was the scene of the rampage of darion ago already is still closed and will remain that way -- darion aguilar is still closed and will remain that way. >> reporter: columbia mall is open today, but no one is hiding the grief for the two victims, mourners shedding tears laying flowers at a public memorial at the mall's south entrance. >> i just felt like i needed to come out here. i wanted to get away from work, sit down in see silence and just think about the victims, think about tyler. >> reporter: inside congress nan elijah cummings consoled two shattered mall visitors. cummings bought a sandwich and talked about moving forward. >> we've got to not let the violence stop us us from doing the things we normally do. >> reporter: hundreds of employees entered together. after a meeting inside a theater most were solemn carrying flowers. inside zumies, the store where johnson and benlolo were senselessly gunned d

it's been a little more than 48 hours since the deadly maryland mall shooting, and this morning we're getting our first look inside the mall. the mall in columbia let our cameras take a look just a little while ago. there's a memorial to the victims of the shooting. in about 90 minutes, the mall will reopen to customers. it's been a busy crime scene since saturday morning when a shooting left three people dead, including the gunman. news4s angie goff joins us with how this story is unfolding on social media. angie? >> reporter: this is a story we've watched unfold online, and new this hour, you talked about it, but the photos of the memorial set up for the victims inside the mall, tweeting them out. also the howard county police department sharing this photo. it shows a memorial wall replaces the front of where the zumiez store is. they tweeted for people to come to the reopening at the mall at 1:00, so about an hour and a half, and notice th the #hocounited, and we're seeing a lot of that after the county executive tweeted out this. even if you aren't a howard county resident, show your support by using the hashtag, and he said thank you for j

. >>> three new developments in the wake of that deadly shooting inside the columbia mall. tonight police handed out fliers to shoppers with a picture of the gunman. that's because darion aguilar went to the mall often. detectives are hoping anyone who came in contact with him will come forward. we also know aguilar was having mental health issues and wrote than in his journal. and the other development comes from the cabdriver who took aguilar to the mall on saturday. erika gonzalez is working on that part of the story. >> reporter: it could very well be a critical clue in this investigation tonight. barwood cab company says one of its drivers dropped aguilar off here at the mall and then called police. what compelled him to do that? plus, the one thing detectives say they have ruled out of this investigation. we'll have those details coming up in just a few minutes. >>> a scare for some shoppers at the westfield montgomery mall in bethesda tonight. a man who allegedly threatened others while claiming he was armed was taken into custody there. police say they were called to

the shopping mall is a place that so many people go on the weekends. here is the mall in columbiafuentes. so, tom, being their you're from the washington d.c. area you may have frequented or familiar with this mall. it was one that i went to as a kid growing up in the area. what do you know about the situation? what are your sources telling you? >> yes, it's a typical mall and there are many of them in the washington area. this in the suburbs of maryland just outside of washington. my question here is do we still have an active shooting situation or is the shooter maybe one of the dead that's already been located by the police. and in that case, then it becomes a crime scene. they'll certainly if there's any -- search if there's any other individuals that may be involved. they'll be reviewing video camer cameras to see what vehicle the person may have arrived in. it could very easily turn out to be workplace violence where someone came back and had vengeance against someone that they worked with or worked for. we don't know all of that. but the question mainly is, is this still an

what is in store today at the columbia mall. largestf the country's corruption trial getting under way. good morning, washington. >> live from the abc 7 broadcast center, this is "good morning washington," on your side. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- good monday morning, washington. >> happy to have our familiar face back with us today. heads up for frederick county virginia parents and schools. virgiderick county,

. >>> now at 11, the search for a motive in the columbia mall shooting. tonight we'll report why the killer's journal could hold answers into what provoked that attack. >>> new video from chopper 4 over the scene of a fire at a maryland home. what helped fuel the flames. >>> and new pictures are just in as passengers from national airport were forced to slide down the emergency chute just minutes after touching down in chicago. >> "news4 at 11" starts now. >> first tonight, the weather. temperatures will feel 50 degrees colder tomorrow than they were today. a windchill advisory is already in effect. this is all part of the same system that is impacting a lot of the country from whiteout conditions in the midwest to a state of emergency in new orleans. and the rare sight of snowplows in south carolina. >> we have team coverage tonight. we begin with doug. man, it is rough out there, doug. >> it is rough out there for a lot of the country. and we're going to see places that are going to be seeing snow and ice where they normally don't see it. and that is all

the mall and it has been cleared. as you know, the mall will not be open the rest of the day and evening. i want to thank the folks of the columbia mall for being so cooperative in working with us. our folks have been here before to train with the mall security folks. they know how to react to incidents like this unfortunately. everyone did exactly what they were trained to do. i also want to give a very large thanks to our community at large. there were a lot of people here they columbia mall saturday morning at 11:15. this was a very scary incident. the chief is going to walk through the details again. this did happen at a store on the second floor that is above the food court. so there was a lot of discussion about the food court. there was a lot of people very close to where this happened. i just want to thank everyone for their patience, folks sheltering in place, being vigilant, doing what their instincts told them to do. this is a very, very large crime scene. people are being incredibly patient in working with us. we are an incredibly safe community in howard county in columbia and we're an incredibly strong and caring co

. >>> about 11:15 this morning, our 911 center received a call for shots fired at the columbia mall. had officers get into the area, we were able to identify three victims at an upper level store in the columbia mall. one of those pictures appears to be a shooter. >> the columbia mall in maryland reopened today for the first time since a gunman walked in and shot and killed two mall employees. a string of shootings across the united states, oklahoma nathan dahm the piers morgan constitutional right to bear arms without infringement. anyone would be allowed to bear arms without a license. explain to me why you've come up with this act, why my name is involved. >> the act would allow people to carry a firearm without a permit. there's 35 states that already allow that here in america. in fact, five states are constitutional carry states that you don't have to have a permit to carry or conceal. with this bill, i thought, well, a lot of times with different bills, it's ironic the way names are come up with, we have the patriot act, the patient affordable care act. it's proven to be unaff

the mall. >> we have an active shooter at the columbia mall, last scene in the food court. >> shoppers inside a crowded mall run for their lives as a gunman opens fire. >> as soon as i ran into sears, shots kept going and going and going and didn't stop. >> three people killed including the gunman. this morning we're live on the scene as investigators search for clues in yet another deadly rampage. >>> promise of terror. with just 11 days to go to the start of the winter games, a terror group promises further violence as putin's office lashes out against the west. >>> puppy love. the blind man saved by his guide dog after falling onto the subway tracks in new york city adds a new friend to the family than tox the kindness of strangers. we're there exclusively today, sunday, january 26, 2014. >> announcer: from nbc news, this is "today," with lester holt and erica hill live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >>> welcome to "today" on this sunday morning. i'm erica hill. >> i'm lester holt alongside dylan and sadly another case of a gunman opening fire with thousands of people nearby. typical

the mall. we've been covering this story out of columbia, maryland. three people now confirmed dead after gunfire erupted at the mall of columbia. this happened around 11:00 this morning. so we're a couple hours removed from it, but authorities say they do believe the suspected gunman is among the dead. police do not have information yet on the identity or motive, but they're confident this was a single shooter. there are no other shooters in the mall, they say. meantime, authorities are still trying to secure that mall. >> our s.w.a.t. teams getting a lot of support at the local, state and federal level, frankly, are going through as we are holding this press conference, they are inside continuing to clear that mall to make sure there are no more victims. >> no more victims. police do say however they believe other people may still be in the mall because when the shooting started they just secured themselves and hid so police are still going through and trying to clear that mall. one person who was at the mall at the time joins me on the line now. he'

overnight bomb squad worked to secure the deadly scene at this mall in columbia, maryland. ging in robots to disable two crude devices on a gunman who killed two mall employees before turning the gun on himself. >> kids are hiding in the bathroom in the upper level in sears. hearing shots. >> police are scouring surveillance to make sense of the crime. >> there were a lot of people here at the columbia mall saturday morning at 11:15. this was a scary incident. >>. >> reporter: a domestic argument is the leading theory behind the killing of the two employees who worked at is a skate shop. 21-year-old mother brianna benlolo, and 24-year-old tyler johnson. the shooting, just outside washington on saturday, sparked terror for hundreds of shoppers and store employees. >> everybody ducked to the ground. i heard more than ten shots. >> people started running and screaming. and i heard boom, boom, boom. >> they were loud. >> for many, saving the children became the number one priority. >> i grabbed every kid that i could see and ran into sears to keep them safe. >> it's horrifying.

we're going to continue to follow the columbia mall tragedy very closely. we'll have the latest information during the 7:00 p.m. newscast, plus you can log on to our website, wusa9.com for full coverage 24 hours a day. >>> breaking news now. a 10-year-old girl has been rescued after she fell down a 30-foot well. that's in pasadena, maryland. sky 9 out over the scene near high point elementary. rescue teams from the anne arundel county fire department pulled that girl out and only took a couple minutes to do that. flew to johns hopkins. no life threatening injuries. >>> virginia state senator, creigh deeds opens up on 60 minutes telling that heart wrenching story about his son's attack and then suicide. peggy fox tells us, deeds is hoping his son's tragedy will lead to changes in the mental health system. >> gus was a great kid. perfect son. you know, it's clear the system failed. it's clear that failed gus. it killed gus. >> in his first on camera interview about what happened to his son, gus, senator creigh deeds talked to scott pelley of 60 minutes. >> if

over the weekend a mall shooting took place in columbia maryland a city located just outside of washington d.c. the shooting highlights the increase the increase in gun violence across america in recent years research released by yele school of medicine estimates that out of the over ten thousand kids shot in the u.s. in two thousand and nine at least one third of them died additionally according to a usa today report put out last month nine hundred thirty four people died in mass shootings over the past seven years that's only one percent of all gun related homicides and it's this high volume of shootings that makes the latest incident feel somewhat routine artie's making lopez was in columbia maryland and brings us the story. it's become an all too common scene in the u.s. less than a month into the new year public shootings have dominated headlines leaving dozens dead and many more fearing for their safety the columbia mall in maryland became the latest scene of a public shooting here on saturday a gunman entered the mall around eleven am an open fire here she reportedly killed two peop

the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- police have identified the gun man from the columbia mallooting. officers work to figure out what led to the tragedy. a vigil is taking place right now to remember a 16-year-old girl killed while walking with a friend. president obama prepares to give his state of the union address on tuesday. hear what his advisers are warning congress. have, howard county police released the name of the gunmen in yesterday's shooting at the columbia mall. he is identified as 19-year-old darion marcus aguilar of college park. this comes hours

tomorrow at the columbia mall there will be a moment of silence at 11:15 marking the 1 week anniversary of the shooting. >>> a new report find the navy yard shooter lied so well doctors concluded he had no mental health issues. that's even after aaron alexis reported disembodied voices were harassing him and using a microwave machine to prevent him from sleeping. the associated press obtained more than 100 pages of treatment and disability evaluations for alexis just weeks before alexis killed 12 people at the navy yard. a va doctor noted alexis worked for the defense department and there was no problem there. >>> two young children may have witnessed something no one should ever see. police say a man and woman were shot to death in the 1600 block of 17th street in south east d.c. the toddlers who were not hurt were inside the whole time. the victims are 21-year-older e -- 21-year-old ervin ingraham and 24-year-old ronnetta brown. >> we don't know it was random. it does appear they were probable >> the search is on tonight for the killer and the children are with protective services. >>

other inside the food court for lunch as a sign of solidaritity with the workers here and the shoppers at columbia mall. reporting outside the columbia mall, live, scott broom, wusa9. >>> today a judge has ordered what is called an extended evaluation for a germantown mother, who is accused of murdering two of her children. authorities say avery's two children died when she was trying to perform an ex says im- - to perform afeat. avery is also facing charges because of injuries to two older children, ages 5 and 8 years old. >>> weather headed our way, we did hit 50 at some point. howard, over to you. >> orange, virginia right now 61 degrees. it is in the single digits, and in davis, west virginia. we had a cold front coming through, quite a few snow showers in pennsylvania and west virginia, a little got into western maryland. no more precipitation with it. winds are gusting 46 miles per hour, close to 50 in a few spots. we are gusting in the mid-30s here. notice the direction of the arrows southwest. still warm here, northwest, cold air moving in now, and the temperatures are going to drop big time be

for memorial a set today the two people killed in the columbia mall shooting. apologized for his actions before carrying out the attack. he suffered from mental health problems, but did not seek help. he kept it hidden from his family. his journal also shows he wanted to die and thought about killing people, although he did not specify anyone by name. apologizes toy his family for what he was about to do. d.c. police are asking for your help to identify men who robbed someone at gunpoint at a drive-up atm. if you know anything, you are asked to call d.c. police. a new warning for people in west virginia after the chemical spill. west virginia residents are aftery tap water weary the discovery of not one, but to chemicals during a spell this month. --ut 300 people are being 300,000 people are being warned, shower at your own risk. -- arets are here inhaling formaldehyde while showering. the chemical that spilled into the elk river is now breaking down as formaldehyde. it is colorless, but can cause burning eyes and throat. the epa says it causes cancer. inhaling