On a Thursday afternoon in Silver Spring, Maryland, 61-year-old Ayalew Wondimu was working his shift as a clerk at the Dash In convenience store located at a Shell gas station on New Hampshire Avenue. It was there that his life was abruptly and violently cut short on December 8, 2022. A man, later identified as 31-year-old Torrey Damien Moore of Silver Spring, entered the store to buy something.
Moore, who had been previously banned from the establishment, got into a verbal altercation with Wondimu.
The argument quickly escalated. Moore began throwing energy drink bottles at Wondimu, striking him. In an attempt to defend himself and get Moore to leave the store, Wondimu picked up a metal pole. Moore then pulled out a handgun and shot Wondimu multiple times. Even after Wondimu had fallen to the ground, Moore leaned over the counter and shot him again. Ayalew Wondimu was pronounced dead at the scene, having sustained a total of three gunshot wounds. The entire tragic incident was captured by the store's surveillance camera.
Montgomery County Police homicide detectives quickly identified Moore as the suspect and tracked him to his apartment at the Enclave Apartments, just across the street from the scene of the crime. When officers executed a search warrant for Moore's residence on December 9, 2022, they not only arrested him but also made a gruesome discovery. Inside the apartment was the decomposing body of a woman, later identified as 26-year-old Denise Middleton, who was eight and a half months pregnant. An autopsy revealed she had been shot multiple times. Moore later admitted to being in a relationship with Middleton and that a fight between them had led to her death about a month prior.
Torrey Moore was charged with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm while committing a felony in the death of Ayalew Wondimu. In January 2023, he was initially found incompetent to stand trial but was later deemed competent in July of the same year. On May 16, 2024, a Montgomery County Circuit Court jury found Moore guilty of the first-degree murder of Ayalew Wondimu, as well as use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence and illegal possession of a regulated firearm. For these crimes, he faced a potential sentence of life in prison. In a separate trial in November 2024, Moore was also found guilty of the murders of Denise Middleton and her viable unborn fetus. Ultimately, Torrey Damien Moore was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences plus 80 years in prison for the murders of Ayalew Wondimu, Denise Middleton, and her unborn child.
