A man who allegedly opened fire on his co-workers Wednesday at a granite countertop company in Maryland, killing three, before wounding another person he knew in Delaware, was held Thursday on $2.1 million cash bail, police said.
Radee Labeeb Prince, 37, pleaded not guilty to four charges at his arraignment in Wilmington, Delaware, attempted murder first degree, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by person prohibited and carrying a concealed deadly weapon.
Shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, police say Prince shot five employees at Advanced Granite Solutions where he worked, killing the three and wounding two others. Then, police say he then drove to a used-car dealership in Wilmington, where he shot an acquaintance in the head and body shortly before 11 a.m..
That victim survived as police launched a manhunt for Prince who was captured around 7 p.m. Wednesday in Newark, Delaware, after a brief foot chase in which police said in court filings that he tossed a .380 caliber semi-automatic.
A motive for the shootings has not been publicly discussed and the court appearance by Prince was brief.
On Thursday, the brother of one of the victims killed went to the Maryland shooting site in a business park in Edgewood, about 40 miles northeast of Baltimore.
Noel Orellana, said his brother, Jose Hidalgo Romero, 34, had been trying for several weeks to find a new job because he was concerned about Prince.
“He knew something was going to happen with this guy,” Orellana said. His said his brother had told him Prince would punch people in the back and start fights. The whole staff met with the owner recently to discuss the issue, Orellana said, but the owner said “leave him alone, he’s a good worker.”
Ron Cherry, an attorney for the counterop company, said he was not immediately prepared to address that account of a meeting.
Romero has a wife and two children in El Salvador, his brother said. The family is preparing to go to a funeral home so they can try to send his body back to El Salvador.
“He was a very humble guy,” Orellana said. “Our hearts are broken. It’s unbelievable.”
The other victims killed were identified by authorities as Bayarsaukhan Tudev, 53, with a last known address in Virginia; and Enis Mrvoljak, 48, of Dundalk, Maryland.
Stefanie Shedy, 30, left Advanced Granite Solutions over a year ago but said she still felt close to her former coworkers. The accountant stopped by Thursday morning to leave flowers at a small memorial in the parking lot outside the office.
“They’re like a tight-knit family, this company,” she said. “I can’t understand why anyone would want to hurt them.”
The owners are “very good to their employees,” she said, helping them out with financial and housing issues.
She knew four of the victims, who she said were longtime workers in the shop and were “very fun and carefree; always smiling” but also hardworking, sometimes pulling 18-hour shifts. Tudev was a more recent employee, as was the alleged shooter, according to Shedy who said she didn’t know either of them.
The two wounded victims were installers of granite , she said, adding that Mrvoljak was a close friend of Romero’s.
Police on Wednesday stressed that Prince knew the victims and that the attacks were “targeted,” not random.
The deadly mayhem, which unfolded in less than two hours, began shortly before 9 a.m. when police allege Prince shot the employees at the Maryland company where he had worked for about four months.
The gunman then drove to a used-car dealership in Wilmington, where he shot an acquaintance in the head and body, police said. Court documents said the alleged attack in Wilmington occurred at Baul’s Auto Sales, where the victim was found with multiple gunshot wounds. Officers responding to the reports of a shooting at the dealership found multiple spent .380 caliber shell casings, according to court documents filed Thursday.
The victim told officials that Prince shot him and a witness said Prince fled the area in a black GMC sport utility vehicle, court filings show. The witness to the dealership shooting had known Prince “for years” and “was positive he was the shooter,” court documents state.
Officials located the unoccupied SUV in Newark, and Prince was later seen in the area of the Four Seasons Parkway and Charles Point in Newark, court documents state.
According to Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler, Prince was scheduled to work Wednesday in Maryland.
The shootings in Maryland were not Prince’s first alleged incident of workplace violence, court documents show. In February, the owner of another countertop company, JPS Marble and Granite, filed a petition in Harford County District Court, asking a judge to order Prince to stay away from him.
“I fired him for punching another employee on the face,” the owner said in the petition, which was denied for lack of evidence. “He came back to our business justifying what he did was right because the other guy was saying some things that he did not like. I still did not take him back after about three times that he went to me.”
After the owner got an official letter notifying him that Prince was seeking unemployment benefits, “we responded that he was fired & already working for another company.” The owner said Prince then visited again and “cursed & yelled at me about unemployment benefits. I felt very threatened because he is a big guy & very aggressive on me.”
The owner added, “He did not hurt me physically, but I do not want to wait ’till he will.”
