Court records: Columbia Machine shooter tried to commit suicide-by-cop

The West Virginia man accused of shooting four Columbia Machine co-workers on Thursday, killing three, told investigators he shot at police after fleeing the business because he wanted authorities to kill him, according to court records.

Judge W. Timothy Finan, a visiting judge from neighboring Allegany County, Md., ordered Joe Louis Esquivel, 23, of Berkeley County, W.Va., to continue to be held without bond on charges stemming from the shootings both at Columbia Machine at 12921 Bikle Road near Smithsburg and the ensuing shootout with authorities near the roundabout at Mapleville and Mount Aetna roads.

The hearing in Washington County District Court in downtown Hagerstown was held with Esquivel appearing via video from the Washington County Detention Center just west of the city. The remote video feed is common practice for bond hearings.

Esquivel has been held without bond at the detention center since being released from Meritus Medical Center. He was wounded in a shootout with police after fleeing Columbia Machine.

While Maryland State Police medical personnel were tending to Esquivel on Thursday after the shootout, Esquivel allegedly asked to be killed, according to court records.

Later, Esquivel "made a statement to investigators that he shot at police to get them to kill him," court records state.

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"We're still conducting a thorough investigation and (motive is) one of the aspects we're looking into," said Sgt. Carly Hose, spokesperson for the Washington County Sheriff's Office, on Monday morning.

Esquivel faces a slew of charges through arrest warrants he was served with on Friday, according to the sheriff's office, state police and court records. Those charges include three counts each of first- and second-degree murder in the shooting deaths of three co-workers: Mark Alan Frey, 50, of Hagerstown; Charles "C.J." Edward Minnick Jr., 31, of Smithsburg; and Joshua "Josh" Robert Wallace, 30, of the Hagerstown area.

He also is charged with three counts each of attempted first-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder in the shootings of co-worker Brandon Chase Michael, 42; and Maryland State Police Detective Sgt. Phil Martin and for attempting to kill state police Lt. Vincent Upole, according to charging documents.

The Associated Press has reported that Michael was still hospitalized as of Friday. An update on his condition was not immediately available.

Martin has previously been described as a 25-year veteran of the state police assigned to the Criminal Enforcement Division Western Region. He was released from Meritus Medical Center on Thursday night.

Upole is commander of the Rockville, Md., state police barrack.

Among the other charges Esquivel faces are first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment for pointing a loaded handgun at a 27-year-old male co-worker. The Herald-Mail is not naming that co-worker at this time.

The bond hearing

Appearing on a video screen in the courtroom Monday afternoon for his bond hearing, Esquivel was sitting in a sleeveless dark frock. He mostly looked at the camera, occasionally looking downward at his hands almost clasped in front of him.

Finan read the long list of charges from both the sheriff's and state police's cases and mentioned the maximum penalties, which included up to life in prison for several of the charges.

The defendant barely spoke, saying “Yes” when Finan asked Esquivel to confirm his identity.

Washington County Assistant State's Attorney Brock Shriver told the court that Esquivel is a “danger to the community.”

Shriver said Esquivel “murdered three co-workers in cold blood,” gunning them down at work. There are multiple eyewitnesses, including the co-worker who was shot and survived, Shriver said.

Shriver said Esquivel tried to kill two state police officers during the shootout in the middle of a public road with civilians nearby.

Esquivel is “as dangerous an individual as there is” and is unpredictable and murderous, Shriver said.

District Public Defender Brian Hutchison and Shriver had no comment on the case following the bond hearing.

Hutchison confirmed during the hearing that Esquivel wants a preliminary hearing. He said there is a presumption of innocence and reserved any argument regarding bond.

More details emerge regarding Columbia Machine shootings on Bikle Road

Charging documents describe finding Columbia Machine co-workers tending to a wounded Michael in a field outside the machinist shop after they fled for safety.

The shop's general manager reported to authorities he had gone to the adjacent office to have the office manager call 911 after he heard shots, court records state. The general manager was talking to the office manager when he saw Michael flee from the work floor into a field adjacent to the business, court records state. The general manager ran outside and had Michael lie down.

An employee at Mace Auto Body, across Bikle Road, thought he heard an "air nailer" go off multiple times and, looking across the street, saw men running from the building and trying to hide in a field, court records state.

The auto body employee told authorities he saw a copper-colored Mitsubishi Eclipse — later identified as the vehicle Esquivel fled in — "fly" down the business lane toward Bikle Road. Then the Mace worker said he ran across the street to the field to help render aid, court documents state.

A Columbia Machine worker said he was getting ready to leave work for the day and was talking to a female co-worker in the office when he heard gunshots or loud banging from within the building, court records state.

The worker opened the door and saw Esquivel holding a handgun and shooting at people in the business, court records state. The worker told police he ran outside with other workers to the field and removed his belt to begin using as a tourniquet on Michael. Then he reported seeing Esquivel flee in his bright orange car, turning left onto Jefferson Boulevard, court records state.

Responding to a report of an active shooter, Smithsburg Police Officer Jerry Morales arrived at the Bikle Road business around 2:38 p.m. and found Michael lying face up on the ground with two men tending to him, according to charging documents.

"Shooter?!" Morales asked and was informed Michael had been shot, court documents state. Morales reported seeing shots to Michael's left arm, left thigh and right wrist and placed a tourniquet high on his arm, while an off-duty civilian/EMT applied a tourniquet to Michael's thigh.

At approximately 2:30 p.m., Detective Clayton Stottlemyer with the sheriff's office responded to Columbia Machine and upon arriving, helped Capt. Mark Knight, Sgt. Alan Matheny and Detective Casey Swope in "clearing" the business, court records state.

While clearing the building, Stottlemyer saw two men dead in the garage bay and several spent casings near both as well as strewn throughout the bay, records state.

While at Meritus Medical Center around 3:30 p.m., the wounded Michael told state police Detective Sgt. Chris Weaver that he, Wallace, Minnick, Frey and another man were in the break room around 2:30 p.m., court records state. Michael said he was looking down at his phone when he heard four gunshots.

Michael told Weaver he looked up to see his co-worker, "Joe," walking into the break room with a gun, court records state. Michael said he felt himself get hit and got up and ran from the room.

Another co-worker in the break room told Detective Jason Ackerman that Esquivel walked into the break room and the co-worker heard two to three gunshots before running from the building. He heard another two to three gunshots and saw two employees fall to the ground and Esquivel flee in his vehicle. The co-worker told authorities he called 911 and saw Esquivel point the handgun at him as he got into his Eclipse and fled.

Joe Esquivel was 'relatively a quiet person'

The local Columbia Machine general manager told police he arrived at work around 7 a.m. Thursday to find employees already working, as he normally does, court records state.

The manager did a "complete walk-through of the work floor," talking to the workers and then went to his office to work on quotes and administrative duties, court records state. As the day continued, he did several walk-throughs on the work floor and spoke to workers. Around 2 p.m. he went to his office for a conference call. Between 2:30 p.m. and 2:40 p.m., he heard several gunshots coming from the work floor, estimating the gunfire was rapid and that he'd heard 12 rounds with a brief intermission between gunfire, court records state.

One of Esquivel's co-workers told police Esquivel was a machinist. Esquivel was was said to be a "relatively a quiet person," with "no real issues at work," court records state. The co-worker said Esquivel had messed up something with a part he was making at work and came to the co-worker about it, but the co-worker told Esquivel "it was really no big deal," court records state. There was no confrontation or argument about it.

About 10 minutes later, the shooting started, court records state.

The shootout on Mapleville Road

Maryland State Police troopers were responding to the active shooter incident at Bikle Road with a report of the suspect fleeing in an orange Mitsubishi Eclipse with West Virginia tags, court records state. Initial reports indicated four people had been shot and three of them were dead.

Troopers found the car near the roundabout at Mapleville Road (Md. 66) and Mount Aetna Road, court records state.

That area is south of Smithsburg and about 6.5 miles southwest of Columbia Machine, which is east of Smithsburg.

The suspect's car "drove" directly into an unmarked Ford Explorer driven by Upole, striking front bumper to front bumper, court records state. A master trooper with the state police reported seeing Esquivel's car accelerate before hitting Upole's sport utility vehicle.

During a shootout between Esquivel and police, Martin was shot in a shoulder area and Esquivel "had damage to his left chest area and left leg," court records state.

Descriptions in court documents of bullet damage to some of the vehicles note Esquivel's car appeared to have five strikes to the driver's side area, Upole's Explorer had what appeared to be two gunshot strikes, and Martin's had a bullet strike to the rear driver's side door and "impact strikes" to the passenger-side front window.

The master trooper reported seeing Esquivel drop or throw a black H&K pistol from the driver's side area, court records state.

The sheriff's office has previously reported that Esquivel used a semi-automatic handgun at both shooting scenes.

Semi-automatic guns require a trigger pull for each round.

Esquivel's home was searched with the help of the Berkeley County (W.Va.) Sheriff's Office and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the sheriff's office announced the day after the shootings.

Berkeley County Sheriff Nathan Harmon, in a text, wrote that "alot" of firearms were found in the home. Harmon would not comment further, writing that his office was coordinating with the Washington County Sheriff's Office on releasing information.

According to charging documents, Esquivel lives on Rare Dogwood Lane northwest of Hedgesville.

According to an initial appearance questionnaire filed in District Court, Esquivel has lived there for three years. He previously lived in Martinsburg and was born in Fort Worth, Texas.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Smithsburg shooting update: Court records don't indicate clear motive