Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler said Friday that, from the video evidence he has seen, it seemed like alleged shooter Snochia Moseley was targeting specific people before fatally shooting herself. The motive behind the shooting remains unknown. "There's just no way to make sense of something so senseless," Gahler said.
WASHINGTON — The woman who opened fire at a Rite Aid warehouse in Maryland Thursday and killed three people before fatally shooting herself showed up to work, then drove home to get the handgun she would later use in the deadly attack.
Snochia Moseley, 26, of Baltimore County, Maryland, came to work shortly after 6:30 a.m., Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler said at a news conference Friday.
She then left at about 7:21 a.m., went home, got the gun, and returned to the warehouse area around 8:35 a.m.
At 8:53 a.m., Moseley reentered the warehouse, and at 9:05 a.m. was seen exiting yet again, pulling a hooded shirt over her head.
She then started shooting in the parking lot.
The first victim was shot outside, and Moseley reentered the building again at 9:07 a.m., still shooting.
There were 65 people working inside the warehouse at the time.
Sheriff Gahler said that, from the video evidence he has seen, it seemed like she was targeting specific people.
Moseley had at some point in the past worked as a security officer and, along with the gun, had brought pepper spray and handcuffs to the warehouse.
“There are still a lot of questions that we don’t know,” Gahler said.
The motive behind the shooting remains unknown.
“There’s just no way to make sense of something so senseless,” Gahler said.
According to police, Moseley had been suffering from some form of mental illness in 2016.
Despite the diagnosis, Moseley was still able to legally purchase the handgun under Maryland state law because it didn’t meet the criteria for refusal.
She had also become increasingly agitated over the last two weeks, authorities said.
Moseley shot herself in the head before police arrived and died later at the hospital.
Police identified those who died in the shooting as: Sunday Aguda, 45; Brindra Giri, 41; Hayleen Reyes, 41. Aguda and Giri were from Baltimore County. Reyes was from Baltimore City.
At Friday’s news conference, Gahler said Moseley had been working at the Rite Aid Liberty Support Facility for less than two weeks and that she had been hired to bulk up the staff for the coming holiday season.
Moseley used a 9 mm Glock 17, according to Gahler, and she had “two, perhaps three” magazines of bullets.
Authorities said the shooting, which a witness said came after an argument, though that detail has not been confirmed by authorities, erupted Thursday morning and sent screaming workers running from the Rite Aid distribution center after it ended.
No law enforcement personnel fired their weapons during the incident.
William Vitka is a Digital Writer/Editor for WTOP.com. He's been in the news industry for over a decade. Before joining WTOP, he worked for CBS News, Stuff Magazine, The New York Post and wrote a variety of books—about a dozen of them, with more to come.