Some NIH Facilities On Lockdown Because of Friday Shooting

Update: The police have suspect Eulalio Tordil, an employee of the Federal Protective Service, in custody, the Washington Post reported Friday afternoon.

The National Institutes of Health on Friday placed some facilities in Montgomery County, Md., on lockdown because of an active gunman on the loose in the area.

The order affected NIH’s leased facilities in Bethesda and Rockville, said agency spokesman Brad Moss over email. The agency’s main campus in Bethesda, which is not on lockdown, is on heightened alert because of a shooting at the nearby Westfield Montgomery Mall. An NIH official could not immediately say how many agency employees have been affected by the lockdown, but was looking into it.

One person was killed, and two others injured at the mall on Friday. Another woman was shot at a grocery store several miles away, and authorities are trying to determine if the incidents are related. Law enforcement also is investigating if Friday’s shooter is the same person who is the suspect in a Thursday night shooting outside a school in Beltsville, Maryland.

Moss said that during a lockdown employees should not leave or enter the building. "However, if NIH employees with an NIH badge arrive to the building and can be confirmed by the guard as legitimate, we are allowing them to enter the building." Moss also said that the agency was allowing parents to leave the facilities on lockdown "at their own risk, if necessary, as Montgomery County schools are starting to release students at their normal dismissal times, and we want to allow them to pick up children."

Heightened alert status means "we have increased police and/or security presence at all entry points to the campus to be on the lookout for the suspect at large," Moss said. Since the main NIH campus is not on lockdown, employees can come and go freely. 

As for the suspect in Thursday's shooting in Beltsville, “police said Eulalio Tordil, 62, fatally shot his estranged wife, who was there to pick up her children, and wounded a bystander who had come to her aid. The shooter fled the scene,” according to a May 6 report in The Washington Post.

Tordil is a law enforcement officer with the Federal Protective Service, agency spokesman Scott McConnell confirmed over email.

FPS placed Tordil on administrative duties in March after a protective order was issued against him, and took away his duty weapon, badge, and credentials. “He was subsequently placed on administrative leave,” said McConnell. “As this incident took place off-duty, any further questions should be referred to the investigating agency, Prince George’s County Police Department. FPS is cooperating with the Prince George’s County Police Department during this ongoing investigation.”

Charles S. Clark contributed to this report. This story will be updated as needed.