Authorities released new details Monday about the weekend shooting in Greenwood, Indiana, including the identities of the gunman, three victims and the legally armed bystander who shot the gunman.
The shooting took place at Greenwood Park Mall around 6pm on Sunday. Many people called 911 to report an active shooting. Three people died and two were injured in the shooting. Greenwood is 15 miles south of Indianapolis.
Police Chief James Ison said the gunman was identified as 20-year-old Jonathan Douglas Sapirman, who police said prepared for the shooting for more than an hour in the bathroom before he emerged with a gun. school.
The victims have been identified as Indianapolis couple Pedro Pineda, 56, and Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda, 37, and Victor Gomez, 30, also from Indianapolis.
The last, legally armed bystander shot dead the gunman identified as 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken of Seymour, Indiana. Dicken was able to disable the gunman within two minutes after the gunman had fired 24 rounds from his rifle. Dicken fired 10 shots from his Glock pistol.
“He engaged the gunman from quite a distance with a shotgun – very well versed in that, very tactically sharp and when he approached the suspect he also signaled to the suspect. people get out behind him,” Ison said. “Many more people would have died last night if it weren’t for a responsible armed citizen who acted very quickly within the first two minutes of the shooting.”
Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb tweeted Monday that the state is grateful for “the swift, heroic actions of a citizen and first responders Sunday night in Greenwood, which certainly prevented further loss of life and injury.”
Holcomb tweeted: “I stand with the community in grieving the loss of life, and my thoughts are with the many people affected by this traumatic incident, including innocent bystanders. whose lives are changed forever.
There have been more than 350 mass shootings this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Like CNN, the archive defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter.
Greenwood now joins several others also grappling with the aftermath of mass shootings, including communities reeling from the recent massacres at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and the march held on July 4 at Highland Park, Illinois.
GUNMAN HAS 2 WEAPONS, OVER 100 WEAPON ROUNDS
Sapirman, the gunman, was carrying two rifles, a Glock pistol and more than 100 rounds of ammunition at the time of the shooting, but only used an AR 15-style rifle, Ison said.
The sheriff said the AR 15-style rifle was legally purchased on March 8 in Greenwood. The second rifle was purchased on March 9, 2021, from a Greenwood gun store.
Shopping mall surveillance video shows Sapirman entering the mall from the food court around 5pm on Sunday and straight into the restroom located in the food court where he stayed for more than an hour before floating. picked up a rifle, Ison said.
Sapirman first shot Gomez, then pointed his rifle at the food court, where he fatally shot Pinedas, who were having dinner at the time of the shooting, Ison said.
The shooter continued to shoot at the food court, stabbing a 22-year-old woman in the leg. A 12-year-old girl – identified as Bella by her mother, Alison Dick – was hit by a shrapnel that shot out of the wall, Ison said.
Bella was with her grandmother and two sisters at the food court when they heard a loud noise, Dick said in a Facebook live video.
Dick told CNN in a text message: “Bella and an older sister ran out of the mall, my mother and other daughter ducked into a shoe store and hid in the back room.” While running, Bella felt “something like a stab in the back,” Dick said in the Live video on Facebook.
Two minutes into the melee, the gunman was confronted by what police described as a “good Samaritan” shopping with his girlfriend. With a Glock pistol in his possession, Dicken shot the gunman, causing him to retreat to the restroom before falling to the ground.
Dicken’s attorney, Guy A.Relford, said in a statement to CNN that his client is “a true American hero who saved countless lives in a horrific event that could have been worse. much worse without Eli’s courage, willingness, and willingness to protect others.”
Greenwood police trained for a mass shooting scenario and conducted “multiple mall exercises” to prepare for active shooting situations, the sheriff said.
“But I’ll tell you, the real hero of the day was the citizen who legally carried a gun in that food court and was able to stop this shooter almost as soon as he started,” Ison said.
According to data from the Advanced Law Enforcement Agency Rapid Response Training Program at Texas State University, it is very rare for an armed bystander to attack an active shooter.
According to ALERRT data, there have been at least 434 active shooter attacks in the US between 2000 and 2021. Active shooter attacks are defined as those in which one or more people shoot, kill or attempt to kill multiple unrelated people in a densely populated place.
Of those 434 active shootings, an armed bystander shot the attacker in 22. Of those 10, the “good guy” was a security guard or police officer on duty, ALERRT data shows.
And having more than one armed person on the scene who is not a member of law enforcement can create confusion and present serious risks, according to an analysis of data published by The New York Times. For example, an armed bystander shot dead an attacker in 2021 in Arvada, Colorado, himself being shot dead by police who mistook him for the gunman, the Times reported.
GUNMAN HAD MINOR PURCHASED ON MY RECORDS, SAYS POLICE
Police are still investigating the shooter’s motive and questioning those inside the mall at the time. Police are asking all witnesses to contact authorities.
Multiple agencies responded to the scene to assist, including the FBI, ATF, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department and the Department of Homeland Security, Ison said.
Police cleared a backpack found at the scene and did not find any explosive devices, Ison said.
“This tragedy affects the very core of our community,” Greenwood Mayor Mark Meyers said in a Facebook post Sunday. “Please offer your prayers for our victims and first responders.”
The suspect had a number of juvenile crimes, like fighting at school and that he was a runaway minor, but had no adult record, Ison said.
Sapirman’s family told police he recently resigned from a position he held at a warehouse in May, Ison said.
A SWAT team cleaning Sapirman’s apartment found a laptop and a can of butane in a “high-temperature” furnace, Ison said Monday. The laptop was damaged.
Ison said: “I don’t want to speculate what his intentions were, whether it could cause a fire or damage the laptop, but we recovered the laptop and that’s it. will go to Quantico for analysis.
Herbert Stapleton, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis Field Office, said investigators need to consult with technical experts to see what might be going on.
The FBI will also analyze the suspect’s cell phone, which was found in a bathroom toilet near the mall’s food court, officials announced Monday.
“We are working as fast as we can to try to get the phone to a exploitable point, there is no guarantee that we will be able to recover any data, we just work as fast as possible. can let Stapleton speak on Monday.
