A makeshift memorial outside the food court entrance of the Greenwood Park Mall on Wednesday.
Daily Journal File Photo
The Greenwood Park Mall reopened its doors two days after a mass shooting unfolded in the food court. The shooting resulted in four deaths, including the gunman’s, and two injuries.
Hundreds of mall employees and shoppers returned to the mall, some saying it felt like the atmosphere had returned to normal, like nothing had happened.
Questions still remain on how the mall’s owner, Simon Property Group, and Greenwood Police plan to move forward with mall security in the future. Another concern is the recent rise in violent crime in the city within the last several months.
Mall employees return to work
One mall employee, a 19-year old from Greenwood who asked to remain anonymous, was working on the other side of the building when the shooting happened in the food court Sunday.
When she returned to work Tuesday, it was difficult for her to get through the day, she said.
“I literally had tears welling in my eyes. I had panic attacks every so often,” she said. “I would have to walk away from my station because I couldn’t stand being where I was. Because that’s the exact place where I was on Sunday.”
During the panic following the shooting on Sunday evening, two people came into her store saying they didn’t know what happened, but people were running and screaming, and they asked if they could wait inside.
Moments later, the employee’s grandmother called and told her she heard there was an active shooter in the building.
“She goes, ‘There’s an active shooter. Please stay safe,’” the employee said.
At first, she remained calm. But when another woman came into the shop panicking, the employee also started to feel panicked, she said.
“It was then I told my managers, like, I don’t want to be here,” the employee said.
Police evacuated her store just before 7 p.m. Sunday, she said, about an hour after the shooter had opened fire in the food court.
Going to work in the aftermath of the shooting, she said she did not necessarily feel unsafe at work, but she was still feeling the trauma and “fight or flight” from being in the mall Sunday.
“I am actively just looking over my shoulder, or just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Because I mean, if you think about it, it could have easily been our entrance,” she said. “There’s just so much, like, just going on in my own head that it’s hard to even explain.”
Simon Property Group has offered free phone counseling to all employees at the Greenwood Park Mall, the employee said. Her company is also bringing in a trauma counselor to the store to talk with employees.
Another mall employee, Jazmin Fox, 28, wasn’t at work Sunday evening, but she returned on Tuesday. She and others thought it was soon to reopen the entire mall just days after the shooting, she said.
“The fact that they have the food court back open, it’s pretty much like nothing ever happened,” Fox said. “It’s just, it’s weird. Like, I have still yet to go on that side of the mall.”
Fox does still feel safe at work at the mall, especially since there has been a noticeably increased police presence, she said. However, she hopes the security increase will stay in place.
“In the next, you know, month, two months, once the officers are, you know, aren’t here all the time anymore, then, yeah, I feel like they should have more security here,” Fox said.
People take to social media to discuss mall’s reopening
Some people took to social media on Tuesday, saying it was too soon for the mall to reopen. Others said people can’t “live in fear.”
“That’s a no from me. There is no way they have increased security or had time to come up with a plan for security to be properly trained with firearms or any necessary steps that they should take to ensure that their shoppers and employees are safe,” Facebook user Katherine Presley Lomen commented on the Daily Journal’s page. “ … Mass shootings have become so normalized. Like it’s just another day, no big deal. It’s despicable.”
Others commented online saying they would be returning to the mall to shop. One user, Lorri Burris, commented “living in fear solves nothing.”
James Phillip Watson, in a message to the Daily Journal, said he thought the mall should stay closed this week.
“I was there for five minutes and left. It (has) a bad energy. The mall needs to learn some respect. I understand business goes on, and it’s a part of things, but it’s too soon,” he said.
History of gun incidents around mall
Sunday’s shooting at the Greenwood Park Mall is not the first shooting or gun-related incident to occur at the mall.
There was a shooting at the mall in February 1990, where an 18-year-old Indianapolis teen shot a revolver inside the mall four times. The shooting occurred after the teen said a rival gang threatened two of his friends for wearing Los Angeles Raiders hats, which at the time, was the trademark of an Indianapolis gang, according to the Daily Journal archives.
No one was injured in that shooting.
Gun-related incidents at the mall are infrequent, although, on top of the mass shooting, there have been five since October:
- Oct. 30, 2021: A man was taken to a hospital after his gun accidentally discharged inside the mall.
- Nov. 1, 2021: A 17-year-old was hospitalized after he accidentally shot himself in the leg outside the mall.
- Jan. 3, 2022: A woman reported to police that she was robbed at gunpoint outside the mall.
- Jan. 16, 2022: At Regal Cinemas, 911 callers reported that three juveniles wearing ski masks had entered the theater and made a non-direct threat. One of the teens mumbled to another that they should just “shoot up the place,” police said.
- Jan. 17, 2022: A mall employee reported that three men had robbed her in the parking lot outside of Macy’s. She was robbed at gunpoint by three men, one of which pointed a gun at her and asked for her purse.
Police increased patrols after robberies
After the two robberies in January, Greenwood police announced plans to increase radio coverage inside the mall by installing a bi-directional amplifier system and increasing patrols in the area. Simon Property Group also planned to buy and install four Flock Safety Automated License Plate Reading cameras, which would be placed near the mall’s four main entrances, police officials said earlier this year.
Greenwood Police Chief Jim Ison said that Simon had increased the number of days and hours per week that they employ off-duty officers, and that he believed there is an off-duty officer working there almost daily. The department also takes multiple calls at the mall every day, so there are officers in the area, he told the Daily Journal Wednesday.
“Our officers also do a lot of proactive patrols through the mall parking lot, due to vehicle break-in’s, vehicle thefts, and the recent robberies,” Ison said. “I am unable to put an exact number of hours per day, but we are there a lot.”
Officers will continue to patrol the mall in an effort to reduce and deter crime. However, it is Simon’s decision as to whether they would want to hire more officers to work off-duty, Ison said.
When asked if Greenwood police had spoken with Simon representatives about potentially increasing security in the aftermath of the shooting, Ison deferred the question to Simon.
The Daily Journal attempted to contact Simon multiple times over the last few days, asking for information and for the company to comment on the mall’s security. However, Simon representatives did not respond to any requests.
Rise in violence concerning
There has been an increase violent crime in Greenwood over the last seven months, which Ison says is concerning. In addition to the armed robberies and the mass shooting, there have been at least four other violent incidents since January.
There was a police-action shooting on March 29, during which a Greenwood woman was fatally shot by police after she sped towards officers at a high-rate of speed in the police department parking lot.
On June 2, a Johnson County Juvenile Detention Facility employee was killed by her boyfriend. He later shot himself when police attempted to apprehend him during a traffic stop in Kentucky.
Then there was the mass shooting at the mall on Sunday. Two days after the mall shooting, a man was fatally shot following a fight at Westminster Apartments and Townhomes, which is just a block from the mall.
This is a trend that is happening across the country, and there are a lot of contributing factors, Ison said. Despite this, Greenwood police will continue to serve citizens well and provide the highest quality public service possible, he said.
“We have had an unprecedented year when it comes to violent crime, but Greenwood is still a very safe city considering our size and proximity to a major metropolitan area,” Ison said.
Despite the rise in crime, Ison hopes people can still feel safe in Greenwood.
“We can’t allow those who wish to commit evil acts (to) prevent us from enjoying the quality of life we are accustomed to and deserve,” Ison said. “I would encourage people to continue to do what they enjoy whether it be going to the mall, a concert, or a walk in a park. I think we all just have to be a little more aware of our surroundings and have a plan of action in place.”
Reporter Noah Crenshaw and Multimedia News Editor Emily Ketterer contributed to this report.
