Police have released the names of those who were killed during a shooting at the Greenwood Park Mall Sunday evening, including the suspect.
First responders from numerous Johnson and Marion county agencies responded to a report of a shooting at Greenwood Park Mall on U.S. 31 in Greenwood shortly around 6 p.m. Sunday. The shooting occurred just before the mall closed.
Four people are dead, including the shooter, and two others were wounded in the shooting. The victims were identified Monday afternoon as Victor Gomez, 30, and husband and wife Pedro Pineda, 56, and Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda, 37, all of Indianapolis.
The shooting suspect is Jonathan Douglas Sapirman, 20, of Greenwood. He is a graduate of Greenwood High School. He had a juvenile record, but no adult criminal history, Greenwood Police Chief Jim Ison said at a press conference Monday afternoon.
“His past incidents with the Greenwood Police Department include minor offenses as a juvenile such as a fight at school and being a juvenile runaway,” he said.
It is unknown at this time if he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or if he was suffering from mental health issues, officials said.
The shooter was shot by Elisjsha Dicken, 22, of Seymour, who police are calling a good Samaritan. Dicken was shopping at the mall with his girlfriend when the shooting occurred. He was lawfully carrying a handgun, though the mall had a policy against carrying, Ison said.
“He was carrying legally under the constitutional carry law,” Ison said.
Police say the shooter likely entered the mall with a SigSauer Model 400M 5.56 long rifle broken into pieces and stored in a bag that was left behind at the mall bathroom. Police also found two additional weapons, a Smith and Wesson M&P 15 5.56 rifle, and a Glock 33 .357 handgun, Ison said.
Only the SigSauer rifle was used in the shooting. All three guns were legally purchased within the last two years, Ison said.
Both the Model 400M and the M&P are described as AR-15 style semi-automatic rifles, based on product descriptions.
The shooter had multiple magazines and over 100 rounds of ammo in his possession. He also had frequently gone to a gun range over the last few years, Ison said.
According to an official timeline released by police, the shooter entered the mall at an entrance near the food court at 4:54 p.m., where he was seen on surveillance video walking into the mall with a bag, where officers say they believe he stored his weapons. The shooter went immediately to the bathrooms located near the food court, and stayed there for one hour and two minutes, Ison said.
During this time, it is likely he was preparing for the shooting. Officers found a cell phone in a toilet in the bathroom, and police believe the shooter placed it there prior to opening fire, he said.
When the shooter exits the bathroom about an hour later, he opens fire, first striking Gomez, who was outside the restroom. He then pointed his rifle into the food court and fatally shot Pedro Pineda and Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda, Ison said.
He then fired more rounds into the food court, striking a 22-year-old female. The woman is recovering from a leg wound at Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis, Ison said.
A bullet fragment is believed to have ricocheted off a wall struck and struck a 12 year-old female who was running away from the gunfire. She was treated for a the wound at an Indianapolis hospital, and doctors removed a bullet fragment from the victim, he said.
Sapirman was then confronted by Dicken, the armed civilian. Dicken fired several rounds at Sapirman, and he tried to retreat to the restrooms. However, he was shot and fell to the ground, Ison said.
“Once he came out and started shooting, it was two minutes from the time the first shot was fired until he was neutralized by our good Samaritan,” he said.
Editor’s note: On Tuesday afternoon, Ison clarified his comments from Monday’s press conference, saying it was 15 seconds from when the shooter started firing to when he was taken down, not two minutes.
Twenty-four rounds were shot by the shooter, and 10 rounds were shot by Dicken. There were dozens of people in the mall at the time of the shooting, Ison said.
Dicken, who police believe had no police training or military background, was proficient with the handgun and engaged the gunman from a distance.
“I will say his actions were nothing short of heroic,” Ison said.
After shooting the shooter, Dicken informed mall security of what he had done, and stayed to speak with law enforcement. Dicken was handcuffed, had his firearm collected and was interviewed by detectives while they were confirming his story, Ison said.
When asked by reporters if it was good to have honest citizens like the good Samaritan out there to stop shooters in the future, Ison said Dicken saved lives.
“Many more people would have died last night if not for a responsible armed citizen that took action very quickly within the first two minutes of the shooting,” he said.
Police have not found any evidence that Sapirman was connected to the Greenwood Park Mall, and do not believe he knew the victims. There is also no evidence at this time that the shooting was racially motivated, Ison said. However, the people who were killed were Hispanic.
Law enforcement has also not found any evidence of a note or message left behind on the shooter’s cell phone. The phone is currently in the custody of an FBI’s forensic team which is working to dry out the phone to recover information, Ison said.
“Right now, we have no motive … His family members that we spoke to, they were just as surprised as everyone else was. They said there were no indicators that he was violent or unstable,” Ison said.
Early this morning, police and federal law enforcement searched the shooter’s apartment at Polo Run Apartments, 800 Kings Mill Road, Greenwood, where he lived alone. A SWAT team was deployed to clear the apartment and during the search officers found the oven inside the apartment turned on with his laptop and a can of butane inside it, Ison said.
A bomb squad was called to help clear the scene when that was discovered.
“I don’t want to speculate what his intentions were, whether it could have been to cause a fire or to damage the laptop,” he said.
The FBI previously said Monday that they were assisting Greenwood police with a search. The agency has taken custody of the shooter’s laptop, which is being sent to the FBI in Quantico, Virginia for analysis. The laptop was damaged by the heat, Ison said.
It will take time for the agency to analyze the phone and the laptop, FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Herb Stapleton told reporters Monday. There’s no guarantee that data from the phone will be recovered, and for the laptop, analysts will have to review it to see what is technically possible for them to do, he said.
He told reporters it was too early to say if the shooter fit a specific profile. In situations like these, the FBI sees shooters with a varying array of backgrounds.
“We don’t want to get too tunnel vision focused on one particular profile,” Stapleton said.
Prior to law enforcement speaking at Monday’s press conference, Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers said Sunday was very tough and that he was not going to be able to say anything that hadn’t already been said by other areas that have had mass shootings.
“I don’t want to be among the mayors that have to share these statements, but sadly I am,” he said. “I grieve for these senseless killings, and I ache for the scars that are left behind on the victims and on our community.”
The city has been contacted by both state and federal officials and the city even received messages from the White House offering condolences and support for anything the city could need, Myers said.
“I thank all of those who did that, who’ve reached out to us and our reaching out to our people to support us,” Myers said. “Also, we’re very thankful for a young 22-year-old man who stopped this violent act.
Greenwood City Council Member Ezra Hill, whose district includes the mall, told the Daily Journal Monday that he was in shock that something like this happened in Greenwood. Hill’s thoughts and prayers are with the victims and those in public safety, he said.
“It’s tough … There’s a lot of people grieving right now and our community is in shock, so we just have to try and pull together and be there for each other so we can move on,” Hill said.
Myers also said he was proud of the city’s first responders, those who responded from nearby cities and state and federal authorities.
First responders are coping with the trauma of responding to a mass shooting. Officers have trained for mass shootings before, and this instant was very similar, Ison said.
“I have been involved in several of these training scenarios and we staged them to look like a real incident,” Ison said. “For me, walking in there last night was surreal because it looked just like every incident we staged.”
First responders are doing well and can meet with a team of mental health professionals later this week. The team is made up of mental health professionals, individuals and law enforcement that are trained to specifically deal with traumatic events that first responders experience, Ison said.
Police are asking for the public’s help in the return of personal property that was left at the mall in the aftermath of the shooting. These items include shopping bags, cell phones and wallets, Ison said.
Anyone who is missing a personal item that was left behind is asked to come to the Greenwood Police Department Training Center, 736 Lowes Boulevard, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Tuesday.
There will be officers there to assist people with getting their personal property back. Those who come for property are asked to bring a form of identification so that officers can positively identify the person they’re giving the property to, Ison said.
Simon Property Group closed the mall Monday. It is not clear as of Monday afternoon if the mall would reopen on Tuesday at 11 a.m.
Correction: July 20, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.
A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the caliber of the shooter’s weapons. The rifles were 5.56, not .556, and the Glock handgun was .357, not .337.
