A man with a history of mental illness has been linked through ballistics testing to two shooting deaths that had rattled the residents of Olney, Md., Montgomery County police said Wednesday.
Police said 35-year-old Rohan J. Goodlett has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the March 18 slaying of Nazir Ahmed and March 21 killing of Punyasara Gedara.
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Gedara, 41, was gunned down in broad daylight, and the 81-year-old Ahmed was shot in the head in his own home.
Police got a break in the case when officers in the neighborhood where Gedara was slain noticed an older-model beige Toyota Camry in the area. That night, officers stopped a vehicle fitting the description and arrested Goodlett on a marijuana possession charge, Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said.
Police searched Goodlett’s house, which is on the same block as Ahmed’s, and found a 9 mm round, Manger said. The round was linked to shell casings recovered at the scene of both homicides, he said.
Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said Goodlett had been found guilty but not criminally responsible in a March 2008 burglary and harassment case. Goodlett had been committed to a psychiatric institution for some time, he said, and was released in January 2009 under the supervision of the Maryland Department of Mental Health and Hygiene.
Goodlett has been in custody on the drug charges since the night of March 21. He faces a bond review hearing on the murder charges Thursday.
Police said they didn’t know if Goodlett knew either victim. They were still investigating a motive for the slayings.
Goodlett graduated from Sherwood High in 1993 and was a soccer player at Howard University. In 1997 he scored a goal that helped the Bison win the conference championship.
Gedara arrived in the United States from Sri Lanka about six months ago, police said. He was killed while walking home from work.
A friend discovered Ahmed’s body Friday after he did not show up at the mosque for prayers, said Mohamed Shmohamed, imam of the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring.
“What kind of person is this?” Shmohamed asked.
