Police: Shooter at Maryland Rite Aid facility was temp worker, had mental illness

Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Investigators say a temporary employee at a Rite Aid facility near Baltimore was responsible for a shooting attack that killed three people.

Police identified the suspect as Snochia Moseley and say she opened fire on co-workers inside and outside the distribution center, located about 25 miles southeast of downtown Baltimore.

Six people were shot and three died. Moseley, 26, died of self-inflicted wounds, officials said.

Hartford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said Moseley did not have a prior criminal record, but that she had a mental illness and had been increasingly agitated in the weeks before the shooting.

The gun she used, a 9mm Glock handgun, was legally registered by Moseley.

"At some point the shooter yesterday developed into a 'fairly acute schizophrenia,' a serious problem and yet it's not flagged or captured by the system and she's able to have that firearm," Harford County Executive Barry Glassman said.

The gunfire sent employees scrambling for cover just after 9 a.m. Thursday.

Colleen Hendrickson was waiting for a bus near the warehouse when she learned of the shooting. She told WJZ-TV in Baltimore it's a "sleepy" part of the county dotted with warehouses and distribution centers.

"It's really just usually very calm, and this is the most chaotic I've ever seen it," she said. "It's very scary when it's just right there on your doorstep because you can see a billion news reports about shooters, about emergency instances, and it still doesn't make it real to you."

Troi Coley, a longtime acquaintance of Moseley's, told the Baltimore Sun she was shocked to learn her friend was behind the attack.

"She wasn't a monster, wasn't an angry person," Coley said. "I just believe this emotional distress. If she did this, it was her last straw."

Authorities were still trying to determine a motive. They say Moseley had been pulled over by Baltimore County police three times in six days and received tickets for failure to have valid registration, suspended registration, failing to update her address and driving without insurance. The court received a request to take the cases to trial.

Thursday's assault marked the third shooting attack in Maryland this year. In March, a student shot two fellow students at Great Mills High School in St. Mary's County before he was shot by the school resource officer. In June, a man opened fire inside The Capital Gazette newspaper office in Annapolis, killing four journalists and a staffer.