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Guilty plea expected in Maryland shooting rampage case that left three dead

April 19, 2017 at 8:07 p.m. EDT
Eulalio Tordil is shown during his capture in Montgomery County after what prosecutors say was a two-day killing rampage. (Alex Brandon/AP)

A 63-year-old Maryland man accused of killing his estranged wife in Prince George’s County, fleeing, and then killing two strangers in Montgomery County intends to plead guilty next week in the stranger slayings, according to court documents signed by attorneys in the case.

Eulalio Tordil, a former officer with the Federal Protective Service, still faces a heavy prison sentence in the 2016 two-day rampage — up to four life terms, including one with the condition that he never gains parole eligibility, according to the records.

He is due for a plea hearing Tuesday in Montgomery Circuit Court. The agreement is not considered final until a judge accepts the deal, and Tordil could still back out.

According to the agreement, Tordil will plead guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-
degree murder, the latter charges based on allegations he shot two others who survived his rampage in Montgomery.

Both murder counts had originally carried the possibility of life with no parole. Prosecutors agreed to convert one of those counts to life with the chance of parole, according to the agreement.

The plea agreement “has no impact” on Tordil’s alleged crimes in Prince George’s County, according to the records. He remains charged there with one count of first-degree murder and two handgun counts, according to online court records.

Theresa Chernosky, an attorney for Tordil, could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

A plea agreement in Montgomery comes as Tordil faces an October trial for the deaths last year of Malcom Winffel, 45 — who prosecutors say was shot as he tried to aid a woman in a shopping-mall parking lot as Tordil attempted to carjack her SUV — and Claudina Molina, 65, who was shot outside a Giant supermarket as Tordil allegedly was trying to carjack her SUV.

Tordil lost his eyeglasses in a scuffle with Molina, which helped police capture him.

Without his glasses, officials said, Tordil could not see well enough to drive. A police officer noticed his car off an alert and notified other officers.

Md. man accused in shooting rampage indicted on two murder counts

Authorities say Tordil’s rampage started May 5, 2016, in Prince George’s, when he shot his estranged wife, Gladys Tordil, as she waited to pick up her daughter outside a high school. His wife, who was 44 and taught chemistry at a different school, had obtained a restraining order against him in March, authorities have said.

After allegedly shooting and killing his wife, Tordil traveled to neighboring Montgomery County, prompting an extensive manhunt. Detectives were able to tie three crime scenes together through witness accounts and from bullets fired from Tordil’s gun, they said.

Suspect lost eyeglasses and was unable to flee after shooting, prosecutors say

Tordil had been a longtime officer with the Federal Protective Services and had worked security for the National Institutes of Health, according to authorities. He was put on administrative leave after the protective order was issued.

In his court case in Montgomery County, prosecutors and defense attorneys soon were set to argue pretrial motions.

Among those was whether prosecutors would be able to use certain statements that Tordil made to detectives after he was captured and after he’d invoked his constitutional rights not to discuss the incident.

According to court records filed by prosecutors:

At one point, Detective Dimitry Ruvin walked into an interrogation room where Tordil was, offered him a slice of pizza, and the two began chatting. Tordil said that as a police officer, he had informed suspects of their constitutional rights and was aware that statements could be used against suspects.

Ruvin kept talking to him.

“At this point, it’s just a human thing, man,” Ruvin said. “That’s all it is. Because, I mean, it’s, it’s over essentially. We’re here and we have the evidence right now. . . . But we’re truly here to get the why, and just on a human level, it’s not even on a cop level, bro’.”

The attorneys also were set to argue over whether Montgomery prosecutors would be allowed to use Tordil’s alleged “prior bad acts” at his trial for the shootings in Montgomery County.

In court papers, Montgomery State’s Attorney John McCarthy laid out a 10-page narrative of Tordil’s alleged behaviors before shooting his wife, how he shot his wife and what he did after fleeing to Montgomery County.

In that narrative — parts of which were made public last year — prosecutors said that on March 3, 2016, Tordil’s wife filed for a restraining order, accusing him of having slapped her hard enough years earlier to break her glasses. The order was granted, preventing Tordil from seeing his wife or her daughters and requiring him to surrender his firearms, according to McCarthy.

Tordil surrendered six weapons to police but kept a .40-caliber Glock handgun he used in the alleged crimes, McCarthy wrote.

After the restraining order was granted, the federal government suspended Tordil from duty, according to court records. Tordil became despondent and told a colleague he was going to run his car off a bridge, McCarthy's account states.

Montgomery officers found a notebook belonging to Tordil after his arrest. In an entry he wrote after his wife’s death, Tordil said he shot her “several times in the upper body/head,” according to McCarthy’s court filing.

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