Suspected Shell gas station shooter charged with triple homicide
WASHINGTON - Prosecutors are charging 31-year-old Torrey Moore with two additional murder charges for the homicide of a pregnant woman and her unborn child, Montgomery County States Attorney John McCarthy confirmed Monday.
The decomposing body of a pregnant woman was discovered inside the suspect’s home after police, going to arrest the suspect for Thursday's fatal Shell gas station shooting, served a no-knock warrant at the suspect’s apartment early Friday.
McCarthy confirmed the woman, said to be in an "advanced" state of decomposition, was determined to be 26 years old. The Medical Examiner says she died of multiple gunshot wounds and that she was pregnant with a boy. Montgomery Police tells FOX 5 the 26-year-old was 38 weeks or about 9 months pregnant.
Investigators say Moore lives at the Enclave Apartments on Oak Leaf Drive in the White Oak section of Silver Spring. Police tracked Moore to the high-rise apartment complex last Thursday after a fatal shooting took place at around 3 p.m. at the Dash-In convenience store, connected to a Shell gas station just across the street on New Hampshire Ave.
McCarthy did not name the woman. Police are also not willing to do so until a positive DNA match is made. Authorities did contact the 26-year-old family in order to obtain a DNA sample. FOX 5 is also in contact with that family.
A relative posted a picture of the victim online writing, "You deserved better."
"Many of you probably remember the Lauren Wallen case that we had years ago here that was this wonderful young woman who was the ‘Teacher of the Year’ in Howard County who was killed by a young man named Tyler Tessier because she was pregnant with his child. One of the leading causes of death for young women in this region, who are in fact pregnant, is homicide, and I am very well aware of that. I do not know what the motive is here, I’m not going to speculate," said States Attorney John McCarthy on Monday.
McCarthy says the 26-year-old woman killed is believed to be Moore’s girlfriend and the child is believed to be the suspect’s son.
Moore appeared in court on Monday for a bond hearing in the murder of the gas station store employee, 61-year-old Ayelew Wondimu.
The 31-year-old was ordered to undergo a psych evaluation. He’s due back in court a week from today. It’s not clear when he’ll appear for the two new murder charges.
According to police and prosecutors, none of Moore's neighbors reported hearing gunshots, no one reported suspicious activity or a suspicious odor coming from the unit, and no one reported the woman missing.
"If you want a safe community, it’ll be a product of working together to make the community safe. Again, I don’t know if we could’ve changed the outcome in this case. I’m just making the observation that I know that we can do better as a community, working together, reporting crimes," said McCarthy.
There’s also a question of whether those living at the Enclave are scared to come forward. FOX 5 was told nearly 500 violations were found inspecting just 25% of the complex’s units in 2018 and that Enclave is known to the county to be a problematic dwelling.
"Is it possible that this general lack of disrepair that many of these folks have dealt with at these buildings contributed to an environment where attention wasn’t being paid? I’m sure it’s possible. You know, every case is different. This is a horrible tragedy and obviously, this person who committed these multiple murders is someone who doesn’t need to be in our society and needs to be put away," said Councilmember Jawando, who also told FOX 5 he’ll be meeting with the Enclave Apartments Tenant Association to discuss concerns given what happened last week.
McCarthy told reporters, "Clearly at least a month," when asked how long the woman’s body had been in the unit.