Rite Aid warehouse shooting suspect legally purchased gun used in attack despite being diagnosed with mental illness
The New York Daily NewsSep 21, 2018
Witnesses said that Moseley, a temporary employee at the facility, shot herself twice before police arrived on the scene -- the first one a graze wound, the second a fatal blow to the head.
Authorities on Friday identified 45-year-old
A mental health diagnosis alone is not enough to bar a
Gahler said she used a 9 mm Glock handgun -- which she purchased in March -- to fire off a total of 13 rounds both outside and in the
Moseley arrived at work as usual for her shift at
She re-entered the warehouse after about 20 minutes, but again exited around
She fatally struck Aguda outside and then continued her rampage inside the building, where 65 employees were working at the time.
The suspect was "shooting like crazy, bam! Bam! Bam!" he said. "Everyone was screaming, running this way and that. I didn't know which way to run."
"She didn't have a particular target. She was just shooting," Watson said.
Law enforcement officers were on the scene within five minutes, but Moseley had already fatally shot herself by the time they arrived.
The motive in the shooting still remains a mystery, though authorities currently don't have any evidence to suggest it was a work-related dispute. Witnesses said they saw Moseley arguing with someone about standing in line ahead of the incident, Gahler said.
"There's just no way to make sense of something so senseless," he added. "There's still a lot of questions that we don't know."
"She wasn't a monster, wasn't an angry person," Coley said. "I just believe this was emotional distress. If she did this, it was her last straw."
Coley also shared a string of 2016 Facebook messages in which the pair discuss Moseley's intent seek out hormone treatment. Authorities and court records both identify the suspected shooter as female, though it is not clear which pronouns she preferred.
"I just started talking about [being transgender]," Moseley wrote in messages obtained by the Sun. "My sister is totally supportive, my brothers already had an idea, my mom and I haven't gotten around to admitting it yet, but she's heard somehow."
Moseley, a 2011 graduate from
Moseley was ticketed for, among other things, not having current registration plates, having suspended registration; failing to update her address and not having insurance.
With News Wire Services
___
(c)2018 New York Daily News
Visit New York Daily News at www.nydailynews.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.