Beltway Shooting Spree: Tordil 'Smiling Before He Started Shooting'

BETHESDA, MD — A man who tried to intervene with accused Beltway shooter Eulalio Tordil – and is recovering from the four bullet wounds he suffered – says Tordil smiled before pulling the trigger.

Carl Unger was at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda on May 6 to have lunch with his friend, Malcom Winffel, 45, of Boyds. Both men were shot, allegedly by Tordil, when they came to the aid of a woman whose car Tordil was trying to steal, police said.

"He looked dead at us and was smiling before he started shooting," Unger told NBC Washington.

Tordil, 62, of Adelphi, was indicted Thursday on first-degree murder in the fatal shootings of Winffel and Claudina Modina, 65, of Montgomery County. Modina, a nurse, was shot in a second failed carjacking attempt at the Giant store in Silver Spring, authorities say.

Tordil, a federal security officer, is also charged with attempted first-degree murder and several gun charges. He faces a life sentence in prison if he is convicted of murder.

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The carjacking victim outside the Macy’s store ran between Unger and Winffel, which is when Tordil began to fire his handgun.

"I thought I was dead. I thought, 'Well, it's over now,'" Unger said.

Unger was shot four times: Once in the shoulder, twice in the back and once in the foot. He suffered a collapsed lung as a result of one of the bullets in his back, and still has a bullet in his shoulder, according to his family.

While he is home recovering with the help and support of his wife, Virginia, and his daughter, Jordyn, he has a long way to go. When his wounds heal, Unger will start physical therapy.

He'll be out of work for months and has exhausted all of his paid, sick and vacation leave, says the family.

Friends have started a GoFundMe page to help support the family and to cover the mounting hospital bills. Just over $23,000 had been donated by Friday night.

The unidentified woman was also shot, but survived.

Unger’s buddy, Winfell, died in the rampage.

“These men are heroes. Malcom Winfell gave his life for somebody he doesn’t know in order to protect her from a predator,” Russ Hamill, chief of detectives for the Montgomery County Police Department, said last month.

Police say both carjacking attempts failed because the victims fought back, and in the mall case, the two men intervened.

Tordil talked to police after he was arrested, but didn’t seem remorseful, Hamill said.

SEE ALSO:

• Maryland Woman Killed By Husband During Shooting Spree Asked Court For Protective Order: Police
• High School Slaying: Fundraiser Set Up For Girls; Victim Had Stayaway Order; Husband Arrested
• High Point High School Shooting: Husband Sought in Wife's Death
• Washington Beltway Shootings: 4 Shot, 2 Killed in Mall and Grocery; Federal Officer in Custody

One day before the Montgomery County shootings, prosecutors say Tordil gunned down his estranged wife, Gladys Tordil, as she waited for her daughters in a high school parking lot.

Police have accused Eulalio Tordil of shooting her May 5 before turning the gun on a good samaritan who had, moments earlier, noticed the couple struggling and asked Gladys Tordil if everything was OK.

In all, police say he killed three people and injured three others before he was taken into custody in a shopping mall parking lot.

Gladys Tordil was a chemistry teacher at Parkdale High School in Riverdale.

Following a March court order in a custody case, Eulalio Tordil turned over his federally issued service weapon, as well as six other firearms.

He was also told to stay away from his wife, her home and her workplace.

Investigators say Eulalio Tordil followed his wife to High Point High School, got out of his car and confronted Gladys Tordil as she sat in her vehicle.

“I’m her husband,” he told the bystander before the shooting began.

»Photo of shooting suspect Eulalio Tordil courtesy of Montgomery County Police