WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The widow of a man killed in a workplace shooting in Maryland said Thursday that her husband was so concerned about the gunman’s explosive temper that he brought it up in church prayer sessions.
Bayarsaikhan Tudev was one of three people shot and killed Wednesday at a granite manufacturer in Edgewood, Maryland.
Police said Radee Prince walked into work at Advanced Granite Solutions and shot five co-workers. Two remained in critical condition Thursday.
Tudev’s widow, Gerelmaa Dolgorsuren, told The Associated Press that her husband had described Prince’s volatile temper several times.
“He was always angry,” she said her husband told her.
His daughter, Suvd Bayarsaikhan said her father had mentioned Prince as well.
“He would come home and mention that he had a rough day at work with this person. I think the guy didn’t really get along with the other workers,” Bayarsaikhan told WTOP’s news partners at NBC Washington.
Tudev, 53, was a native of Mongolia who came to the U.S. in 2005. He and his wife settled in Arlington, Virginia, which has a large Mongolian-American community.
“He was the best dad and the best husband. He was the most humble person. He was a very friendly, softhearted and a very easy going guy. And I’m sure everybody loved him,” Bayarsaikhan said to NBC Washington.
Dolgorsuren said her husband liked his job so much that he endured a regular commute of more than two hours. She said he always felt that he was living the American dream.
“He woke up at 5 a.m. He’d drive every day to beat traffic,” Bayarsaikhan said. “It was a long drive — he was a hardworking man; he worked for his family.”
Prince was captured late Wednesday after a 10-hour manhunt during which he also shot and wounded an acquaintance in Wilmington, Delaware. He was ordered held on $2.1 million cash bond on attempted murder charges in that shooting during his arraignment in a Delaware court early Thursday.
Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy said his department is coordinating with Maryland law enforcement officials to transfer Prince back to Maryland to face charges in the workplace shooting.
Tracy said at a news conference Wednesday night that police and federal agents arrested Prince after they spotted him in the Newark, Delaware, area. He’d left his SUV near a high school, and a civilian notified authorities. Officers found him nearby, and he ran about 75 feet (23 meters) and threw away a gun before being arrested. No one was hurt in the capture.
“I even get chills talking about it because I know what it’s like when we do hunt individuals that are desperate,” Tracy said.
In addition to Tudev, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office identified the slain victims as: Jose Hidalgo Romero, 34, of Aberdeen, Maryland; and Enis Mrvoljak, 48, of Dundalk, Maryland.
Less than two hours after his first attack, Prince drove to a used car lot about 55 miles (90 kilometers) away in Wilmington, and opened fire on a man with whom Tracy said Prince had “beefs” in the past. The man was wounded but survived and identified Prince to police.
The search for Prince clogged the Interstate 95 corridor from Maryland to Philadelphia with cruisers patrolling the highways. Overhead highway signs flashed Prince’s Delaware license plate number and the make and model of his vehicle. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said helicopters were circling the airspace searching for any sign of the black 2008 GMC Acadia.
Although police have not disclosed a motive for Prince’s shootings, his legal record painted a portrait of a man with an alleged history of workplace violence, gun charges, traffic violations and problems with his probation.
A felon with 42 arrests in Delaware, court records showed Prince had been fired from a Maryland job earlier this year after allegedly punching a co-worker. He also faced charges of being a felon in possession of a gun, was habitually late paying his rent, was repeatedly cited for traffic violations, and was ordered to undergo drug and alcohol counseling in recent years.
Earlier this year, Prince was fired from JPS Marble and Granite and scared his prior employer so badly that the man tried to get a restraining order.
At one point, his former boss Philip Siason told the court: “He came to see me, cursed and yelled at me about unemployment benefits. I felt very threatened because he is a big guy and very aggressive on me.”
Saison said he “didn’t want to wait” until Prince became physically violent, and noted his prior gun charge as a reason for feeling particularly afraid of the man. A Harford County District Court judge denied the order, saying the case didn’t meet the required burden of proof.
Prince had been a machine operator at Advanced Granite Solutions, which designs and installs granite countertops, for four months, owner Barak Caba told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
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Associated Press writer Denise Lavoie in Richmond contributed to this report.
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