Maryland mystery: Why did mall shooter do it?

Investigators are still searching for a motive this morning behind a deadly shooting at a Maryland mall on Saturday that killed two workers. Police said the shooter, Darion Marcus Aguilar, 19, then killed himself. Investigators have not been able to find a link between Aguilar and the victims.

By Elisha Fieldstadt, Staff Writer, NBC News

As a Maryland mall prepared to reopen Monday two days after a gunman entered the shopping center and killed two store employees and then himself, many questions remain about the tragedy.

The attack has baffled investigators and acquaintances of the shooter, a quiet, skinny teenager who graduated from high school less than a year ago and had no previous run-ins with law enforcement. 

Did Aguilar know his victims?
The shooter, Darion Marcus Aguilar, 19, is seemingly connected to the victims, Brianna Benlolo, 21, and Tyler Johnson, 25, in a couple of small ways. Friends of Aguilar described the teen as an avid skateboarder, and the store where he killed the two young employees was a skate shop called Zumiez. Additionally, he lived less than a mile away from Benlolo in College Park, Md.

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Tyler Johnson, victim of shooting at The Mall in Columbia

Regardless of the possible overlap between Aguilar and his victims, Howard County Police Chief Bill McMahon said Sunday, “We have no known relationship between the victims and our shooter.” Although Benlolo and Aguilar lived in the same area and were of similar ages, Benlolo did not attend Blake High School from which Aguilar graduated, said Dana Tofig, a school representative.

McMahon said there has been speculation about a romantic relationship between the gunman and Benlolo, but investigators have not been able to establish that. 

He said Monday that if the shooting were “domestic-related” he thought investigators would know more about that by this point. But he also did not rule that out. 

The chief also said there was no evidence so far that Aguilar ever applied for a job at Zumiez or worked there. 

Did Aguilar show warning signs of violence?
Aguilar’s mother reported him missing about two hours after the shooting on Saturday, according to Prince George’s County Police Department. This may indicate she had some feeling that her son was capable of causing danger to others or himself, although Aguilar had no criminal record, according to Howard County Police.

When police arrived at Aguilar’s home to file the missing person’s report, they found his journal. According to Prince George’s County PD, entries in the journal made an investigator “concerned for the missing person’s safety.” McMahon later said that Aguilar “does express some general unhappiness with his life” within the journal’s pages.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

A memorial site has been set up at the Mall in Columbia, Md.

And Aguilar’s college plans were diverted. A Blake Highschool newspaper page highlighting the class of 2013 and their future plans, Aguilar indicated he intended on attending Montgomery College. Elizabeth S. Homan, Montgomery’s director of communications, told NBC News that Aguilar was accepted to his first choice school in February of 2013 but never registered for classes.

What did Aguilar do during his 60 minutes in the mall?
The shooter took a cab to the Mall in Columbia. He was dropped off near the Zumiez store on the second level and waited an hour before his attack on the store.

McMahon said surveillance video shows Aguilar made “very limited movement” during that hour. He walked down one level to the food court directly below the future crime scene and then ditched a bag in a Zumiez dressing room before he opened fire.

Did Aguilar intend to harm more people?
Aguilar fired between six and eight shots and hit four people — including one person who suffered a gunshot wound to the foot. When police found Aguilar’s body, they found “a large amount of ammunition on and about him,” McMahon said.

Officers also found “two crude devices that appeared to be an attempt at making explosives using fireworks,” a Howard County police statement read. Investigators were originally concerned they would find additional explosives on Aguilar’s body or in the mall, but did not. Police did find additional ammunition in the home he shared with his mother, McMahon said.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

A message is posted on the outside of the boarded up Zumiez store where two days earlier three people were shot and killed at the Mall in Columbia January 27, 2014 in Columbia, Maryland. Authorities say Darion Marcus Aguilar, 19, killed two employees at the skateboarding and surfing clothing store in the mall before fatally shooting himself. Investigators still have no motive for the shooting.

Where’d he get the gun and ammo?
Aguilar purchased his 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun legally in December. State law says that a person over the age of 18 can purchase and possess a rifle or shotgun without a permit, according to the National Rifle Association. Federal law stipulates that a gun buyer must pass a background check.

During news conferences Saturday and Sunday, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman skirted any comments about possibly fighting for stricter gun laws in Maryland. He encouraged the community to focus on “doing what we can to make the world a better place,” adding, “There will be plenty of time for a broad public policy debate.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

• No known relationship between Maryland mall shooter, victims: cops
  


• Young mother among victims of Maryland mall shooting


• Two store employees, gunman dead in Maryland mall shooting

Maryland mystery: Why did mall shooter do it?

Gunman in mall shooting had no criminal record

Howard County police chief William McMahon speaks to reporters at the parking lot of the Mall in Columbia, Md., after a shooting at the mall on Saturday Jan. 25, 2014 in Howard County, Md. Police in Maryland say three people died Saturday in a shooting at a mall in suburban Baltimore, including the presumed gunman. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Howard County police chief William McMahon speaks to reporters at the parking lot of the Mall in Columbia, Md., after a shooting at the mall on Saturday Jan. 25, 2014 in Howard County, Md. Police in Maryland say three people died Saturday in a shooting at a mall in suburban Baltimore, including the presumed gunman. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The home of Darion Marcus Aguilar of College Park, Md., is seen Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Police say Aguilar carried out Saturday’s attack with a shotgun at a skateboard shop at the Mall of Columbia before killing himself. Howard County Police Chief William McMahon said investigators are trying to determine whether Aguilar knew either of the victims and whether he had a criminal record. They offered no motive for the shooting. (AP Photo/Ben Nuckles)

The home of Darion Marcus Aguilar of College Park, Md., is seen Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Police say Aguilar carried out Saturday’s attack with a shotgun at a skateboard shop at the Mall of Columbia before killing himself.Howard County Police Chief William McMahon said investigators are trying to determine whether Aguilar knew either of the victims and whether he had a criminal record. They offered no motive for the shooting. (AP Photo/Ben Nuckles)

A Montgomery County, Md., police officer walks in a parking lot at The Mall in Columbia, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014, in Columbia, Md., following a shooting that police say three people died at the mall including the presumed gunman. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Restaurant general manager Heather Saffield, watches though the glass door from her restaurant at The Mall in Columbia Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014, in Columbia, Md., as police continue the evacuation of the remaining mall visitors following a shooting that police say three people died including the presumed gunman. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

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COLUMBIA, Md. (AP) — The gunman who shot two people to death at a Maryland shopping mall had no criminal record, police said Sunday, but little else was known about the 19-year-old and whether he knew his victims.

Darion Marcus Aguilar of College Park, Md., carried out Saturday’s attack with a 12-gauge shotgun at a skateboard shop at the Mall in Columbia in suburban Baltimore before killing himself, police said.

Howard County Police Chief William McMahon said investigators are trying to determine whether Aguilar knew either of the victims, who were both employees of a shop called Zumiez, which sells skateboards, clothing and accessories.

Police identified the victims as 21-year-old Brianna Benlolo of College Park, Md., and 25-year-old Tyler Johnson of Mount Airy, Md. McMahon offered no motive for the shooting.

“There are a lot of unanswered questions,” McMahon said at a news conference. Aguilar purchased the shotgun legally last month at a store in neighboring Montgomery County.

It took hours to identify the gunman since he was carrying ammunition and a backpack containing homemade explosives, McMahon said. Officers searched Aguilar’s home Saturday night, recovering more ammunition, computers and documents, police said.

The home is a two-story wood-frame house in a middle-income neighborhood called Hollywood, just off U.S. Route 1 and near the Capital Beltway. No one answered the door Sunday morning at the house, which had a Christmas wreath on the front door, signs that read “Beware of Dog” and warnings about an alarm system.

Aguilar and his mother were renters at the home. Sirkka Singleton, who owns the property with her husband and lives a block away, said they use a property manager to find tenants and they have never met the Aguilars. She declined to say who the property manager was.

Residents described the neighborhood as a mix of owners and renters, including some University of Maryland students.

Katie Lawson, director of communications at the university, said campus police told her that Aguilar has never had been a student there. She said she had no information on the two victims.

Aguilar graduated in 2013 from James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, said Dana Tofig, a Montgomery County schools spokesman.

A person who attended the high school with Aguilar told The Associated Press that he was an avid skateboarder.

Tydryn Scott, 19, said she was Aguilar’s lab partner in science class and described him as tall, skinny and quiet. She said he was interested in skateboarding and hung out with other skaters.

She said she was stung by the news that he was the shooter.

“It was really hurtful, like, wow — someone that I know, someone that I’ve been in the presence of more than short amounts of time. I’ve seen this guy in action before. Never upset, never sad, just quiet, just chill,” Scott said. “If any other emotion, he was happy, laughing.”

A man who answered the phone at Johnson’s residence in Mount Airy, northwest of Baltimore, said the family had no comment. But the victim’s aunt told a local television station that she did not believe her nephew knew Aguilar.

Sydney Petty, in a statement to WBAL-TV, also said she did not believe her nephew had a relationship with Benlolo outside work.

“Tyler didn’t have anything beyond a working relationship with this girl, and he would have mentioned it if he did, and we’re just as confused as anybody,” Petty said.

She said her nephew also worked at a drug rehabilitation center in Mount Airy, for which she served on the board.

Five other people were hurt in the attack and its aftermath, but only one was hit by gunfire. All were released from hospitals by Saturday evening, police said.

At the time of the shooting, the mall was busy with weekend shoppers and employees.

“There were a lot of people very close to where this happened,” Howard County Executive Ken Ulman said.

Police searched the mall with dogs overnight, and stores were to remain closed through Tuesday.

Benlolo’s grandfather, John Feins, said in a telephone interview from Florida that his granddaughter had a 2-year-old son and that the job at Zumiez was her first since she went back to work after her son’s birth.

“She was all excited because she was the manager there,” he said.

He described his daughter’s family as a military family that had moved frequently and had been in Colorado before moving to Maryland about two years ago. He said his granddaughter was on good terms with her son’s father, and they shared custody.

“I mean what can you say?” he said. “You go to work and make a dollar and you got some idiot coming in and blowing people away.”

___

Associated Press writers Jessica Gresko and Martin Di Caro in Washington contributed to this report. Eric Tucker contributed from Columbia, Md., and Kasey Jones reported from Baltimore.

Associated Press

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Gunman in mall shooting had no criminal record

Gunman in mall shooting had no criminal record

Howard County police chief William McMahon speaks to reporters at the parking lot of the Mall in Columbia, Md., after a shooting at the mall on Saturday Jan. 25, 2014 in Howard County, Md. Police in Maryland say three people died Saturday in a shooting at a mall in suburban Baltimore, including the presumed gunman. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Howard County police chief William McMahon speaks to reporters at the parking lot of the Mall in Columbia, Md., after a shooting at the mall on Saturday Jan. 25, 2014 in Howard County, Md. Police in Maryland say three people died Saturday in a shooting at a mall in suburban Baltimore, including the presumed gunman. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The home of Darion Marcus Aguilar of College Park, Md., is seen Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Police say Aguilar carried out Saturday’s attack with a shotgun at a skateboard shop at the Mall of Columbia before killing himself. Howard County Police Chief William McMahon said investigators are trying to determine whether Aguilar knew either of the victims and whether he had a criminal record. They offered no motive for the shooting. (AP Photo/Ben Nuckles)

The home of Darion Marcus Aguilar of College Park, Md., is seen Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Police say Aguilar carried out Saturday’s attack with a shotgun at a skateboard shop at the Mall of Columbia before killing himself.Howard County Police Chief William McMahon said investigators are trying to determine whether Aguilar knew either of the victims and whether he had a criminal record. They offered no motive for the shooting. (AP Photo/Ben Nuckles)

A Montgomery County, Md., police officer walks in a parking lot at The Mall in Columbia, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014, in Columbia, Md., following a shooting that police say three people died at the mall including the presumed gunman. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Restaurant general manager Heather Saffield, watches though the glass door from her restaurant at The Mall in Columbia Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014, in Columbia, Md., as police continue the evacuation of the remaining mall visitors following a shooting that police say three people died including the presumed gunman. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

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COLUMBIA, Md. (AP) — The gunman who shot two people to death at a Maryland shopping mall had no criminal record, police said Sunday, but little else was known about the 19-year-old and whether he knew his victims.

Darion Marcus Aguilar of College Park, Md., carried out Saturday’s attack with a 12-gauge shotgun at a skateboard shop at the Mall in Columbia in suburban Baltimore before killing himself, police said.

Howard County Police Chief William McMahon said investigators are trying to determine whether Aguilar knew either of the victims, who were both employees of a shop called Zumiez, which sells skateboards, clothing and accessories.

Police identified the victims as 21-year-old Brianna Benlolo of College Park, Md., and 25-year-old Tyler Johnson of Mount Airy, Md. McMahon offered no motive for the shooting.

“There are a lot of unanswered questions,” McMahon said at a news conference. Aguilar purchased the shotgun legally last month at a store in neighboring Montgomery County.

It took hours to identify the gunman since he was carrying ammunition and a backpack containing homemade explosives, McMahon said. Officers searched Aguilar’s home Saturday night, recovering more ammunition, computers and documents, police said.

The home is a two-story wood-frame house in a middle-income neighborhood called Hollywood, just off U.S. Route 1 and near the Capital Beltway. No one answered the door Sunday morning at the house, which had a Christmas wreath on the front door, signs that read “Beware of Dog” and warnings about an alarm system.

Aguilar and his mother were renters at the home. Sirkka Singleton, who owns the property with her husband and lives a block away, said they use a property manager to find tenants and they have never met the Aguilars. She declined to say who the property manager was.

Residents described the neighborhood as a mix of owners and renters, including some University of Maryland students.

Katie Lawson, director of communications at the university, said campus police told her that Aguilar has never had been a student there. She said she had no information on the two victims.

Aguilar graduated in 2013 from James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, said Dana Tofig, a Montgomery County schools spokesman.

A person who attended the high school with Aguilar told The Associated Press that he was an avid skateboarder.

Tydryn Scott, 19, said she was Aguilar’s lab partner in science class and described him as tall, skinny and quiet. She said he was interested in skateboarding and hung out with other skaters.

She said she was stung by the news that he was the shooter.

“It was really hurtful, like, wow — someone that I know, someone that I’ve been in the presence of more than short amounts of time. I’ve seen this guy in action before. Never upset, never sad, just quiet, just chill,” Scott said. “If any other emotion, he was happy, laughing.”

A man who answered the phone at Johnson’s residence in Mount Airy, northwest of Baltimore, said the family had no comment. But the victim’s aunt told a local television station that she did not believe her nephew knew Aguilar.

Sydney Petty, in a statement to WBAL-TV, also said she did not believe her nephew had a relationship with Benlolo outside work.

“Tyler didn’t have anything beyond a working relationship with this girl, and he would have mentioned it if he did, and we’re just as confused as anybody,” Petty said.

She said her nephew also worked at a drug rehabilitation center in Mount Airy, for which she served on the board.

Five other people were hurt in the attack and its aftermath, but only one was hit by gunfire. All were released from hospitals by Saturday evening, police said.

At the time of the shooting, the mall was busy with weekend shoppers and employees.

“There were a lot of people very close to where this happened,” Howard County Executive Ken Ulman said.

Police searched the mall with dogs overnight, and stores were to remain closed through Tuesday.

Benlolo’s grandfather, John Feins, said in a telephone interview from Florida that his granddaughter had a 2-year-old son and that the job at Zumiez was her first since she went back to work after her son’s birth.

“She was all excited because she was the manager there,” he said.

He described his daughter’s family as a military family that had moved frequently and had been in Colorado before moving to Maryland about two years ago. He said his granddaughter was on good terms with her son’s father, and they shared custody.

“I mean what can you say?” he said. “You go to work and make a dollar and you got some idiot coming in and blowing people away.”

___

Associated Press writers Jessica Gresko and Martin Di Caro in Washington contributed to this report. Eric Tucker contributed from Columbia, Md., and Kasey Jones reported from Baltimore.

Associated Press

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Top Headlines

Gunman in mall shooting had no criminal record

Gunman in mall shooting had no criminal record

Gunman in mall shooting had no criminal record
http://hosted2.ap.org/CBImages/?media=photo&contentId=1b203b6489e5f503490f6a7067002ad8&fmt=jpg&Role=Preview&reldt=2014-01-25T21:46:34GMT&authToken=eNoFwrkNwCAQBMCKTlruWSCgGLBBInPogOLRzJl%2fo4XSw0gD4LBynt3SUNigS6kzZAVMvGIJewYzoP0tZ39NkiYNV9QL5NAS8w%3d%3d

Howard County police chief William McMahon speaks to reporters at the parking lot of the Mall in Columbia, Md., after a shooting at the mall on Saturday Jan. 25, 2014 in Howard County, Md. Police in Maryland say three people died Saturday in a shooting at a mall in suburban Baltimore, including the presumed gunman. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Howard County police chief William McMahon speaks to reporters at the parking lot of the Mall in Columbia, Md., after a shooting at the mall on Saturday Jan. 25, 2014 in Howard County, Md. Police in Maryland say three people died Saturday in a shooting at a mall in suburban Baltimore, including the presumed gunman. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The home of Darion Marcus Aguilar of College Park, Md., is seen Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Police say Aguilar carried out Saturday’s attack with a shotgun at a skateboard shop at the Mall of Columbia before killing himself. Howard County Police Chief William McMahon said investigators are trying to determine whether Aguilar knew either of the victims and whether he had a criminal record. They offered no motive for the shooting. (AP Photo/Ben Nuckles)

The home of Darion Marcus Aguilar of College Park, Md., is seen Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Police say Aguilar carried out Saturday’s attack with a shotgun at a skateboard shop at the Mall of Columbia before killing himself.Howard County Police Chief William McMahon said investigators are trying to determine whether Aguilar knew either of the victims and whether he had a criminal record. They offered no motive for the shooting. (AP Photo/Ben Nuckles)

A Montgomery County, Md., police officer walks in a parking lot at The Mall in Columbia, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014, in Columbia, Md., following a shooting that police say three people died at the mall including the presumed gunman. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Restaurant general manager Heather Saffield, watches though the glass door from her restaurant at The Mall in Columbia Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014, in Columbia, Md., as police continue the evacuation of the remaining mall visitors following a shooting that police say three people died including the presumed gunman. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

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COLUMBIA, Md. (AP) — The gunman who shot two people to death at a Maryland shopping mall had no criminal record, police said Sunday, but little else was known about the 19-year-old and whether he knew his victims.

Darion Marcus Aguilar of College Park, Md., carried out Saturday’s attack with a 12-gauge shotgun at a skateboard shop at the Mall in Columbia in suburban Baltimore before killing himself, police said.

Howard County Police Chief William McMahon said investigators are trying to determine whether Aguilar knew either of the victims, who were both employees of a shop called Zumiez, which sells skateboards, clothing and accessories.

Police identified the victims as 21-year-old Brianna Benlolo of College Park, Md., and 25-year-old Tyler Johnson of Mount Airy, Md. McMahon offered no motive for the shooting.

“There are a lot of unanswered questions,” McMahon said at a news conference. Aguilar purchased the shotgun legally last month at a store in neighboring Montgomery County.

It took hours to identify the gunman since he was carrying ammunition and a backpack containing homemade explosives, McMahon said. Officers searched Aguilar’s home Saturday night, recovering more ammunition, computers and documents, police said.

The home is a two-story wood-frame house in a middle-income neighborhood called Hollywood, just off U.S. Route 1 and near the Capital Beltway. No one answered the door Sunday morning at the house, which had a Christmas wreath on the front door, signs that read “Beware of Dog” and warnings about an alarm system.

Aguilar and his mother were renters at the home. Sirkka Singleton, who owns the property with her husband and lives a block away, said they use a property manager to find tenants and they have never met the Aguilars. She declined to say who the property manager was.

Residents described the neighborhood as a mix of owners and renters, including some University of Maryland students.

Katie Lawson, director of communications at the university, said campus police told her that Aguilar has never had been a student there. She said she had no information on the two victims.

Aguilar graduated in 2013 from James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, said Dana Tofig, a Montgomery County schools spokesman.

A person who attended the high school with Aguilar told The Associated Press that he was an avid skateboarder.

Tydryn Scott, 19, said she was Aguilar’s lab partner in science class and described him as tall, skinny and quiet. She said he was interested in skateboarding and hung out with other skaters.

She said she was stung by the news that he was the shooter.

“It was really hurtful, like, wow — someone that I know, someone that I’ve been in the presence of more than short amounts of time. I’ve seen this guy in action before. Never upset, never sad, just quiet, just chill,” Scott said. “If any other emotion, he was happy, laughing.”

A man who answered the phone at Johnson’s residence in Mount Airy, northwest of Baltimore, said the family had no comment. But the victim’s aunt told a local television station that she did not believe her nephew knew Aguilar.

Sydney Petty, in a statement to WBAL-TV, also said she did not believe her nephew had a relationship with Benlolo outside work.

“Tyler didn’t have anything beyond a working relationship with this girl, and he would have mentioned it if he did, and we’re just as confused as anybody,” Petty said.

She said her nephew also worked at a drug rehabilitation center in Mount Airy, for which she served on the board.

Five other people were hurt in the attack and its aftermath, but only one was hit by gunfire. All were released from hospitals by Saturday evening, police said.

At the time of the shooting, the mall was busy with weekend shoppers and employees.

“There were a lot of people very close to where this happened,” Howard County Executive Ken Ulman said.

Police searched the mall with dogs overnight, and stores were to remain closed through Tuesday.

Benlolo’s grandfather, John Feins, said in a telephone interview from Florida that his granddaughter had a 2-year-old son and that the job at Zumiez was her first since she went back to work after her son’s birth.

“She was all excited because she was the manager there,” he said.

He described his daughter’s family as a military family that had moved frequently and had been in Colorado before moving to Maryland about two years ago. He said his granddaughter was on good terms with her son’s father, and they shared custody.

“I mean what can you say?” he said. “You go to work and make a dollar and you got some idiot coming in and blowing people away.”

___

Associated Press writers Jessica Gresko and Martin Di Caro in Washington contributed to this report. Eric Tucker contributed from Columbia, Md., and Kasey Jones reported from Baltimore.

Associated Press

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Read more about Gunman in mall shooting had no criminal record and other interesting subjects concerning U.S. News Report at TheDailyNewsReport.com

Wisconsin Mall Shooting - OCTOBER 2012 - 3 Dead, 4 injured.

A funny side of Conspiracy Theories…

NYPD Held Mall Terrorism Exercise After Kenya Attack

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
December 11, 2013

On Wednesday, the New York Police Department admitted it had conducted a late night drill at a closed shopping mall in November following the terrorist attack at a mall in Kenya on September 21. Police officials said the undisclosed drill was conducted in order to prevent chaos in the event such an attack occurred in New York.

NYPD boss Ray Kelly told the media during a news conference at police headquarters that the exercise was designed to rest the response of police officers. The NYPD boasts of having thwarted more than a dozen terrorist incidents since the September 11, 2001, attacks. Kelly said now “is a time for vigilance and not complacency. The world we are in remains a very dangerous place.”

Details about the police drill held at the Kings Plaza in Brooklyn arrives at the same time as news that the alleged Somali al-Shabab attackers numbered three or four and were not heavily armed as the media claimed during the stand-off at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya. The New York Police Department report on the siege states that only four terrorists took part in the attack and they were lightly armed with AK-47 rifles. 67 people, mostly civilians, were killed during the attack. The NYPD report concludes that the attackers may have escaped the mall on the first day of the attack. Kenyan police and military conducted a three day siege of the mall.

It was initially claimed that 18 heavily armed gunmen had participated in the raid. “Security sources familiar with the operation to retake the mall said it would have been daunting for even the best-trained soldiers in the world,” The Times reported on September 28. Despite the “bravery of have-a-go heroes,” the newspaper reported, it took hours for a disorganized and under-equipped Kenyan military to respond. Friendly fire resulted in the shooting of a policeman by the military. The military assault resulted in the collapse of several floors of the mall.

The Kenyan government and its intelligence service knew about the al-Shabab attack and had positioned assets at the mall, according to counter-terrorism documents. “We cannot say that this attack comes as a surprise,” said Farah Maalim, former deputy speaker of the Kenyan National Assembly, according to The Guardian. “The possibility of something like this happening, and of failures in the Kenyan intelligence community, has worried us for years. We have an intelligence service more worried about internal party politics than about threats to national security.”

NYPD positioned “critical response vehicles’ tlo New York malls following the Kenya attack in September.

A Harvard trained lawyer who works for the World Bank, Bendita Malakia, claimed she was rescued by an American security team five hours after the assault began. The American’s assertion raised the possibility that American intelligence also knew about the attack beforehand.

Following the attack, counter-terrorism experts warned that an attack of similar magnitude might occur in the United States. “The fear is that if a couple young men returned to the United States with training to conduct military attacks on U.S. citizens, you could take the template of this mall attack that’s happening right now in Kenya and apply it to the U.S.,” Anders Folk, the former assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, told the Washington Times in September.

“There possibly could be Americans over there that we don’t know about, and that’s one of my biggest concerns,” Rep. Michael T. McCaul, Texas Republican and chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, told CNN. McCaul said “the idea that they can come back into the United States is a real valid concern.”

This article was posted: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 at 2:21 pm

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NYPD Held Mall Terrorism Exercise After Kenya Attack

Kenya Soldiers Looted During Mall Attack

yahoo.com
October 29, 2013

Two Kenyan soldiers were sacked for stealing items during the deadly siege last month of Nairobi’s Westgate Mall, Kenya’s military chief said Tuesday.

Gen. Julius Karangi, chief of Kenya’s military, identified the sacked soldiers as Victor Otieno and Victor Ashiundu and said they were in detention pending formal charges.

He said the two soldiers were found with mobile phones, cameras and chargers that were stolen from the mall during the siege.

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This article was posted: Tuesday, October 29, 2013 at 10:27 am

Tags: foreign affairs, terrorism

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Kenya Soldiers Looted During Mall Attack

Department of homeland security in martinsburg wv strip mall

Department of homeland security in martinsburg wv strip mall

Signs say National Mall closed, but immigration reform rally is a go

Charlie Spiering
Washington Examiner
Oct. 8, 2013

A giant stage with lights and an “Immigration Reform Now” banner was set up in the center of the National Mall along with three large portable screens, despite signs and barricades proclaiming the area closed due to the government shutdown. (Photo: Charlie Spiering/For the Washington Examiner)

Even though isolated barricades with “closed” signs remained on the National Mall on Tuesday, the setup for the immigration reform rally said otherwise.

A giant stage with lights and an “Immigration Reform Now” banner was set up in the center of the mall, along with three large portable screens.

On one side of the mall, more than 100 porta potties were set up for protesters who will attend the rally today.

Read more

This article was posted: Tuesday, October 8, 2013 at 11:00 am

Tags: domestic news

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Signs say National Mall closed, but immigration reform rally is a go

Kenyan military names Nairobi mall attackers seen on CCTV footage

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Kenya Defence Forces soldiers comb the rooftop of the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi September 24, 2013.


Credit: Reuters/Noor Khamis








NAIROBI | Sat Oct 5, 2013 8:53am EDT





NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s military spokesman on Saturday named four men he said took part in the Islamist militant attack on a Nairobi shopping mall two weeks ago in which at least 67 people were killed.




Closed-circuit television footage from the Westgate mall was broadcast on Kenyan television channels, apparently showing at least four alleged attackers with guns walking around the mall’s supermarket and a storage room. “I confirm these were the terrorists, they all died in the raid,” Major Emmanuel Chirchir, spokesman for the Kenya Defence Forces, told Reuters.




He gave their names as Abu Baara al-Sudani, Omar Nabhan, Khattab al-Kene and Umayr. Kenya said previously that between 10 and 15 militants were involved in the mall attack.




(Reporting by James Macharia; Editing by Mark Heinrich)





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Reuters: Top News

Kenyan military names Nairobi mall attackers seen on CCTV footage

Nairobi Westgate Mall Attack: Canada’s Contribution to Violence in Africa

There are no shades of grey, no nuance or even cause and effect in the simplistic world view proclaimed by the current Canadian government.

The Conservatives’ response to the horrific attack in Nairobi’s Westgate Mall has been to thump their chests and proclaim their anti-terror bona fides.

“The fight against international terrorism is the great struggle of our generation, and we need to continue with the resolve to fight this,” bellowed Foreign Minister John Baird. For his part, Stephen Harper boasted that “our government is the government that listed al-Shabab as a terrorist entity.”

But the prime minister has ignored the fact that his government also played a small role in the growth and radicalization of the organization responsible for this terrible crime in Kenya.
After the failed US invasion of Somalia in the early 1990s (Black Hawk Down) American forces once again attacked that country in December 2006.

After the Islamic Courts Union won control of Mogadishu and the south of the country from an assortment of warlords, American forces launched air attacks and 50,000 Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia. According to a cable released by Wikileaks, the US under secretary of state for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, pressed Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to intervene.

Ottawa supported this aggression in which as many as 20,000 Somalis were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. Throughout 2007 and 2008 when the US launched periodic airstrikes and Ethiopian troops occupied Somalia, Ottawa added its military presence.

At various points during 2008, HMCS Calgary, HMCS Iroquois, HMCS Charlottetown, HMCS Protecteur, HMCS Toronto and HMCS Ville de Québec all patrolled off the coast of Somalia. In the summer of 2008 Canada took command of NATO’s Task Force 150 that worked off the coast of Somalia.

The Conservatives’ public comments on Somalia broadly supported Ethiopian/US actions. They made no criticism of the US bombings and when prominent Somali-Canadian journalist Ali Iman Sharmarke was assassinated in Mogadishu in August 2007 then foreign minister Peter Mackay only condemned “the violence” in the country. He never mentioned that the assassins were pro-government militia members with ties to Ethiopian troops.

The Conservatives backed a February 2007 UN Security Council resolution that called for an international force in Somalia. They also endorsed the Ethiopia-installed Somali government, which had operated in exile. A February 2007 Foreign Affairs release noted: “We welcome Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed’s announcement to urgently convene a national reconciliation congress involving all stakeholders, including political, clan and religious leaders, and representatives of civil society.” In April 2009 the Somali transitional government’s minister of diaspora affairs and ambassador to Kenya were feted in Ottawa.

Supported by outsiders, the transitional government had little backing among Somalis. AnOxfam report explained: “The TFG [transitional federal government] is not accepted as legitimate by much of the population. Unelected and widely perceived as externally imposed through a process that sidelined sub-national authorities and wider civil society, the transitional federal institutions face strong allegations of corruption and aid diversion.”

In maybe the strongest signal of Canadian support for the outside intervention, Ottawa did not make its aid to Ethiopia contingent on its withdrawal from Somalia. Instead they increased assistance to this strategic ally that borders Sudan and Somalia. Among CIDA’s largest recipients, Ethiopia received about $ 150 million annually in Canadian aid from 2008 to 2011.

Aid to Ethiopia was controversial and not only because that country invaded and occupied its neighbour. An October 2010 Globe and Mail headline noted: “Ethiopia using Canadian aid as a political weapon, rights group says.”

In early 2009 Ethiopian troops withdrew from Somalia (they reinvaded in late 2011 and some 8,000 Ethiopian troops continue to occupy parts of the country). The Conservatives helped the multi-country African Union force that replaced the Ethiopian troops. “Canada is an active observer in the (African Union) and provides both direct and indirect support to the [Somalia] mission,” explained a heavily censored June 2012 government briefing obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

In 2011 Ottawa contributed $ 5.8 million US towards logistical support for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) while in February 2012 Canada announced a $ 10 million contribution for the deployment of a Ugandan Formed Police Unit to Somalia. “Indirectly, Canada is engaged in training initiatives through (Directorate of Military Training and Co-operation) to enable (African Union) troop contributing nations through the provision of staff and peace support operations,” noted the above-mentioned internal briefing.

The US paid, trained and armed most of AMISOM. In July 2012 the Los Angeles Times reported: “The U.S. has been quietly equipping and training thousands of African soldiers to wage a widening proxy war against the Shabaab. … Officially, the troops are under the auspices of the African Union. But in truth … the 15,000-strong force pulled from five African countries is largely a creation of the State Department and Pentagon, trained and supplied by the U.S. government and guided by dozens of retired foreign military personnel hired through private contractors.”

In October 2011 thousands of Kenyan troops invaded Somalia and they remain in the country under AMISOM. “Kenya, in many ways, was simply carrying out the West’s bidding,” noted a recent Globe and Mail editorial.

Al Shabab claims its killing of shoppers and mall workers in Nairobi was a response to Kenya’s military invasion of Somalia. Since the Ethiopia/US invasion in late 2006 the group has waged a violent campaign against the foreign forces in the country and Somalia’s transitional government. During this period al Shabab has grown from being the relatively small youth wing of the Islamic Courts Union to the leading oppositional force in the country. It has also radicalized. Rob Wise, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, notes that Ethiopia’s occupation of Somalia transformed al Shabab into, “the most powerful and radical armed faction in the country.”

Al Shabab has turned from being a national organization towards increasing ties to Al Qaeda. In July 2010 the group pulled off its first major international attack when it killed 74 in Kampala in response to Uganda’s occupation of Somalia.

Canada’s support for foreign intervention in Somalia has not gone unnoticed. When a group calling themselves Mujahedin of Somalia abducted a Canadian and Australian in October 2008 they accused Canada and Australia of “taking part in the destruction of Somalia.” They demanded a change in policy from these two countries. Similarly, in October 2011 an al Shabaab official cited Canada as one of a handful of countries that deserved to be attacked.

Portrayed by Washington and Ottawa as simply a struggle against Islamic terrorism, the intervention in Somalia was driven by geopolitical and economic considerations. A significant amount of the world’s goods, notably oil from the Persian Gulf, pass along the country’s 1,000-mile coastline and whoever controls this territory is well placed to exert influence over this shipping.

There are also oil deposits in the country. A February 2012 Observer headline noted: “Why defeat of Al Shabaab could mean an oil bonanza for western firms in Somalia.” With plans to invest more than $ 50 million, Vancouver-based Africa Oil began drilling an exploratory well in northern Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region at the start of 2012. This was the first significant oil drilling in Somalia in two decades. The Canadian company didn’t escape the eye of Al Shabaab. A Twitter post from the group’s press office called Africa Oil’s contracts “non-binding”. “Western companies must be fully aware that all exploration rights and drilling contracts in N. Eastern Somalia are now permanently nullified”, the group’s spokesperson wrote. In an interview with Maclean’s Africa Oil CEO Keith Hill acknowledged the “significant” security risks and costs for their operations in Somalia but he noted the rarity of a “billion-barrel oil field.”

The 2006 US/Ethiopia invasion of Somalia has spiraled into ever more foreign intervention/local radicalization, which has caused a great deal of human suffering. This destructive cycle needs to be broken.

If the Conservatives have any concern for the people of Somalia — and neighbouring countries — they’d stop their anti-terror chest thumping and end their contributions to this violent cycle.

Global Research

Nairobi Westgate Mall Attack: Canada’s Contribution to Violence in Africa

John Deere donates mowers for Mall

Deere is one of several corporations to partner with the Trust for the National Mall. | Courtesy

In these penny-pinching times, the federal government can use a helping hand wherever it can find one and the latest assist comes from none other than John Deere.

Yes, the lawnmowing company.

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The Illinois-based company is donating more than $ 400,000 worth of its equipment to help maintain the National Mall, a partnership that will be announced at a press conference Friday.

“John Deere is both honored and proud to play a role in the revitalization of this iconic landscape,” said Denver Caldwell, a manager at John Deere who oversees “turf marketing and marketing support.”

“For more than 175 years, our company has been committed to nurturing, harvesting and beautifying the land. Today, we continue that commitment by providing the equipment to sustainably care for America’s Front Yard.”

Deere is one of several corporations who have joined the Trust for the National Mall’s public-private partnership to improve the downtown area.

“This gift will help protect the park’s investment in new turf, which provides visitors a more vibrant, welcoming and sustainable green space for recreation, civic gatherings and reflection,” said Caroline Cunningham, president of the Trust for the National Mall.

Collis Jones, John Deere’s director of congressional affairs, told POLITICO that he expects more public-private partnerships to prop up as the federal government tightens its belt.

“There are needs out there and people can coalesce around those needs and you will probably see more public-private partnerships with government funding being cut in certain areas.”

POLITICO – Congress

John Deere donates mowers for Mall