Columbia Mall Shooter Darion Aguilar Followed the Model of Notorious Mass Murderers

by Mike Roche

Their mutual interest in skateboarding brought three young Maryland adults together and, ironically, led to their deaths. Briana Benlolo, 21 was the assistant manager of a skateboarding store, Zumiez, located in the Columbia Mall in Howard County, near Baltimore. This was her first job since the birth of her son, Elijah, two years earlier. This doting mother was excited over her new job and she has been described as always smiling and presenting a happy disposition. Tyler Johnson, 25, of Ellicott City, was also a Zumiez employee. He has been described as vibrant and alive, proud of having been clean and sober for two years. Tyler also worked at the Serenity Center in Columbia, MD., a drug rehabilitation center and was an inspiration to other addicts seeking treatment.

The shooter, Darion Aguilar, 19, was described as a good kid, calm and quiet, who kept to himself. He lived with his mother who described her son as “a gentle, sweet kid.” He worked at a nearby Dunkin Donuts and had recently been promoted to manager. Darion was known as an avid skateboarder.

On January 25, 2014, the Prince George County Police Department received a missing persons report for Aguilar at about 1:40 p.m. Officers went to Aguilar’s home to speak with his mother about 5 p.m. and viewed Aguilar’s journal. The portion the officer read alerted him that Aguilar might be suicidal. Police ran a trace on Aguilar’s phone and discovered it was at the Columbia Mall in neighboring Howard County.

Unbeknownst to the investigating officer and Aguilar’s mother, Darion was observed on surveillance footage arriving by taxi at the Columbia Mall at 10:15 am. He entered the mall near the skate shop, Zumiez. He went downstairs to a food court directly below the store, then returned to the store less than an hour later. The store was familiar to him; he had shopped there in the past. He entered a dressing room and removed a shotgun from his backpack. Then he snapped a photo of himself holding the weapon and uploaded the image to a blog on Tumblr. He wrote:

“I had to do this. Today is the day. On previous days I tried this I woke up with anxiety, regret and hope for a better future this day I didn’t, I woke up felt no emotions no empathy no sympathy. I will have freedom or maybe not. I could care less.”

Aguilar stepped out of the dressing room. He said nothing, leveled the shotgun and began firing, killing both Benlolo and Johnson. Customers and employees scrambled for safety as did mall patrons who heard the shots. Aguilar fired eight to ten times; some of the shots were aimed at the fleeing patrons who were running for their lives.

Aguilar fired one shot across the hallway, striking a woman in the foot. He fired into the food court, striking the wall next to Great American Cookies, narrowly missing several people. Aguilar then turned and shot out the plate glass window of Zumiez, striking a lifeless mannequin. He then turned the gun on himself. The skate shop was now the final resting place for three lifeless bodies who had shared a common interest in skateboarding.

By the time police arrived, is was all over. This is the case in almost 50 per cent of active shooter cases with 50 per cent of the shooters taking their own lives. The Montgomery County Police responding to the scene located what appeared to be crude homemade explosives on Aguilar’s body. The bomb squad was summoned to disable the devices and search the mall for additional explosives. This process slowed the identification of the shooter, as there were concerns that he may have booby-trapped himself.

Later, Aguilar’s mother said her son had never been interested in guns. She said, he was a vegetarian because he was concerned about animal welfare. “I don’t know what happened, I don’t know, he’s never had a gun before, never been interested in guns or anything like that.” She added, “I feel for those other parents, I do.”

After the shooting, the police found that Aguilar had been planning the shooting for months. He had combed the internet for articles on mass murderers, guns, bombs, and mall shootings. He particularly focused on the massacre at Columbine High School and downloaded a video game that simulated the Columbine shooting. Aguilar also learned how to assemble and fire a shotgun and researched mental illness. He even joined a chat room for those contemplating suicide. It turns out the Sandy Hook shooter, Adam Lanza, also possessed the rather rudimentary Columbine High video game. Conduct of this sort is common among mass murderers. Adam Lanza conducted in-depth analysis of over five hundred killings. Similarly, the Columbine shooters conducted extensive internet research to assist them with their planning.

Well before his rampage, Aguilar had complained to a doctor that he was hearing voices. This, of course, is one of the symptoms of schizophrenia which often begins to manifest in the late teens or early twenties. Schizophrenics are rarely violent and there are no indications that the voices Aguilar heard were compelling him to engage in violence or that he was taking direction from these voices. The doctor recommended that Aguilar seek psychiatric treatment. Apparently there was no follow-up and his mother does not recall speaking to the doctor despite the physician’s assertions that Aguilar’s mother pledged to seek help.

The police chief reports that Aguilar was dressed similarly to one of the Columbine gunmen, used a similar weapon, and was observed lurking in the mall for 41 minutes in an apparent attempt to open fire at the exact same time when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris initiated their attack, killing 19 Columbine High students and staff.

Aguilar’s backpack also held a video camera with images of himself holding the shotgun. These images are associated with rehearsal fantasies. Potential shooters are prone to fantasizing about how the media will display their final images. Howard County Police Chief William J. McMahon said police would not release Aguilar’s final self-portrait because they believe he intended it as an “effort to gain notoriety.” This is one of the most common motives of mass killers. They are looking to attach significance to their life and hope everyone will remember who they were. Their ultimate fantasy would be a tombstone engraving on Wikipedia that would last forever.

Police said Aguilar’s family and friends had no idea what he was planning. “He knew he was sick,” said Chief McMahon at the news conference summing up the department’s investigation. “Nobody saw this coming.” Clearly, Aguilar’s mother should have been more alarmed as her son’s problems deepened, particularly after being told by the doctor to seek additional treatment, which could have altered the tragic outcome. It is difficult to determine if the nature of his socialization with friends had changed or what they had observed that might have provided some insight.

Aguilar maintained a handwritten journal, which provides a window into his thoughts and mental state. The police have described the writings as disconnected and violent. Aguilar had admitted to using marijuana and expressed “thoughts of wanting to die.” He never specified intended targets or locations. One of the journal entries, he wrote, “I going to fucking kill you in a couple of hours. I’m anxious, I hate you all so much. You are pathetic pieces of shit who fucking deserve to die.” Similar vitriol-filled sentiments were voiced by Seung Hui Cho prior to the Virginia Tech shootings. Dr. Katherine Ramsland, the noted forensic psychologist, calls this “coercive suicide.” The mass killers feel that they have no choice but to die and in the process to take along as many victims as possible as a final statement of retribution against society.

The joy and freedom experienced by skateboarders will never again be felt by Aguilar or his two victims, Briana Benlolo and Tyler Johnson.

Please click here to view Mike Roche’s previous posts:

Peter Lanza Speaks: The Lethal and Unvarnished Truth about His Son Adam

FHP Officer Jimmy Fulford Fields Pipe Bomb Intended for Young Mother with His Bare Hands and Dies Instantly

Fire Department and California Highway Patrol Go 9 Rounds: Win, Lose or Draw?

The Boston Bombers: A Tale of Two Troubled Brothers

Don’t Text at the Movies, The Life You Lose May Be Your Own!

Killers and the Catcher in the Rye

Mike Roche has over three decades of law enforcement experience. He began his career with the Little Rock Police Department, and spent twenty-two years with the U.S. Secret Service. The last fifteen years of his career were focused on conducting behavioral threat assessments of those threatening to engage in targeted violence. He is the author of three novels and two nonfiction works on mass murder and also rapport building. Retired, Mike is currently a security consultant at Protective Threat LLC, and an adjunct instructor at Saint Leo University. He resides in Florida with his family.