Sole witness to deadly Columbia, Md. mall shooting speaks out

Sole Maryland mall shooting witness speaks out

COLUMBIA, Md. - The sole witness to a deadly shooting earlier this year at a mall in Columbia, Md. says he questions why his life was spared.

"That's the one thing I struggle with. I don't understand why he didn't kill me when he had the opportunity to," 27-year-old Chris, who did not want his last name used, told CBS Baltimore. "I mean, I was right there, four feet behind the girl, Brianna. He definitely saw me getting out of the store. That's the one thing I still don't understand, I never will understand."

Authorities say Darion Aguilar, 19, used a 12-gauge shotgun to randomly kill two employees of Zumiez, a skateboard gear shop, before taking his own life inside the Mall in Columbia on Jan. 25. Chris was the only other person inside Zumiez, besides Aguilar and the victims, when the shooting took place.

Brianna Benlolo, 21, of College Park, and Tyler Johnson, 25, of Mount Airy, Md. were killed.

Howard County Police Chief William McMahon announced Wednesday that the investigation into the shooting revealed Aguilar had no connection to the victims and appeared to have had an obsession with the Columbine High School shooting and modeled his attack after that.

Chris told CBS Baltimore that after witnessing the shooting he had problems sleeping and concentrating but every day since, he says, "it's gotten less and less."

"I'm just grateful and really lucky that I had somebody watching over me that day that I wasn't another victim," he said.


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