The gunman who killed two people and injured several others before taking his own life inside a suburban Maryland mall last Saturday wrote of killing people in a journal. He also wrote that he was ready to die, police told the Associated Press, as they released new details about the shooting.Â
Darion Marcus Aguilar expressed in his journal "a general hatred of others," but didn't mention specific people or locations in his writings, the Howard County police department wrote on its Twitter account.
According to AP, Aguilar wrote that his plan was set and apologized to his family for what he was going to do, although he didn't state exactly what his plan entailed. He wrote that he needed to see a mental health professional, but this was never mentioned to his family.
Police still have found no link between 19-year-old Aguilar and his victims, 21-year-old Brianna Benlolo and 25-year-old Tyler Johnson, who were both working at Zumiez, a skate shop inside Columbia Mall, Saturday morning, when police say that Aguilar began shooting after entering the store.
Aguilar had no prior criminal record.
Police have said that Aguilar was a regular at the mall. He never worked at the store or sought a job there, a spokeswoman for the company told AP, but was known to hang outside the mall and smoke with others in small groups.
On Saturday, police say, he took a taxi to the shopping center, carrying ammunition and a broken-down shotgun in a backpack, along with several homemade explosives. It is now believed that Aguilar assembled the shotgun in the dressing room of the store and then opened fire as soon as he exited the room.
Police now report that he fired between six and nine times in and around the store.
Aguilar legally purchased the 12-gauge shotgun last month along with several boxes of ammunition. The owners of the store that sold him the gun have said he raised no red flags.
Saturday morning, Aguilar was supposed to open a Dunkin' Donuts where he was working. When he didn't arrive, his mother contacted the police to file a missing person's report. Police arrived at the home and found the journal. That was enough for officers to fear for Aguilar's safety, AP reports.
Police would track his cellphone to Columbia Mall.
Read more at Associated Press.