SILVER SPRING, Md. (DC News Now) — Police found the decomposing body of a pregnant woman in the apartment of a man who was charged with shooting and killing a Shell gas station employee.
Police were first called to the Shell Station on New Hampshire Avenue just after 3 p.m. on Thursday for a shooting. They found 61-year-old Ayalew Wondimu of Silver Spring, an employee at the convenience store, who was pronounced dead on the scene.
Police said that 31-year-old Torrey Moore had entered the convenience store and picked up merchandise before heading to the counter, where a verbal fight started between Moore and Wondimu.
It escalated into a physical fight when Moore pulled out a gun and shot Wondimu multiple times.
Police tracked Moore to the Enclave Apartments, which is across the street from the Shell. After obtaining a search warrant for Moore’s apartment, they found a pregnant woman’s body “in an advanced stage of decomposition.”
Moore told detectives that he had been in a relationship with the woman and said that she appeared to be eight months pregnant when she died. Police say they did not receive any missing person’s report or complaints from neighbors smelling a body. Her body was sent to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy to identify her and determine how she died.
Moore was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm while committing a felony. He has a bond hearing scheduled for Monday.
Anyone with any information regarding these events is asked to contact police at 240-773-5070 or 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).
