ROCKVILLE, Md. — Malcom Winffel’s family was not surprised to learn that he died in an effort to help others.
“He was always helping people,” said his sister, Pilar Winffel, of Columbia. “If a friend of a friend was moving, he would go and help.”
On Friday, the 45-year-old man was helping a woman in the parking lot of Montgomery Mall when police say he was shot and killed by Eulalio Tordil, 62, of Adelphi.
Tordil went on a nearly 24-hour shooting spree Thursday and Friday, authorities say, killing three people and wounding two others. Police say the spree began with a domestic motivation, with Tordil fatally shooting his estranged wife, Gladys Tordil, who had recently obtained a protective order against him. A bystander who tried to intervene was wounded.
They say it concluded with two more shooting scenes that were likely the result of botched carjackings.
On Saturday, police identified the two victims who died in the apparent botched carjackings. Winffel was fatally shot at the first attempted carjacking, at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. Tordil later drove to a strip mall in Aspen Hill, where police say he fatally shot Claudina Molina, 65, of Silver Spring.
At a news conference Saturday night, Montgomery County Assistant Police Chief Russ Hamill said Winffel and his friend, who was not identified, were coming to the carjacking victim’s aid when they were shot.
“Those two men acted selflessly and heroically, most likely saving her life,” Hamill said.
Hamill said Winffel’s friend, who was described Friday as being in grave condition, is “making progress. We remain hopeful he’ll survive.”
Hundreds of people attended a vigil remembering Winffel Saturday evening at Clarksburg High School, where his two children are enrolled.
