A man shot four times while trying to help a woman in the parking lot of a Maryland mall said the gunman smiled before shooting him and killing his friend.
Carl Unger was one of three people shot on May 6 at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. Unger survived, but his friend Malcom Winffel did not.
Unger said he vividly remembers the gunman's expression.
"He looked dead at us and was smiling before he started shooting," Unger said.
Eulalio Tordil, a 62-year-old federal security officer from Adelphi, was indicted Thursday in the shooting.
Tordil is accused of killing another victim hours later outside a Giant grocery store and fatally shooting his estranged wife the day before at the school where she worked. Gladys Tordil, a chemistry teacher in Prince George's County, had obtained a protective order against her husband.
Police believe the shootings at the mall and grocery store were likely botched carjackings.
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Unger said he was at the mall to have lunch with Winffel when the two heard a woman scream for help in the parking lot.
"She ran between us and then he just started shooting," Unger said. "I know he got me like four times."
Unger was shot in his foot, leg, back and shoulder, where one bullet remains.
"I thought I was dead. I thought, 'Well, it's over now,'" he recalled.
The woman was shot in the shoulder and survived. Winffel, 45, of Boyds, was killed.
After two weeks in a hospital, Unger is home recovering with the help of his family. He said it will take months for him to fully recover.
Tordil faces eight charges in Montgomery County: two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, and four counts of using a hand gun in the commission of a crime of violence. He could serve life in prison if convicted.
Tordil, a federal security officer employed by the Federal Protective Service, was put on administrative duties in March after a protective order was issued against him when his wife said he had threatened to harm her if she left him.
Police said they spoke with Tordil after his arrest and "would not describe him as being remorseful."
