Authorities are unable to determine a motive for the Greenwood Park Mall shooter.
Greenwood Police Department and the FBI revealed this and more at a joint press conference at the Greenwood City Center Wednesday. The press conference was held share an update on the investigation into the July 17 mass shooting at the mall.
A little over five months ago Jonathan Douglas Sapirman, 20, of Greenwood, opened fire at approximately 5:56 p.m.
Sapirman killed three and injured two others at the mall that day, after preparing for the shooting for an hour in the bathroom near the food court. Deceased victims are Victor Gomez, 30, and husband and wife Pedro Pineda, 56, and Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda, 37, all of Indianapolis.
He was stopped by Elisjsaha Dicken, 22, of Seymour, who was lawfully carrying a gun and intervened by fatally shooting the gunman. Because of Dicken’s intervention, lives were saved, said Jim Ison, Greenwood police chief.
The gunman had lived in Greenwood since he was 17 and lived at Polo Run Apartments for the entire period, first with his brother and then alone, Ison said. In the months before the shooting, he was jobless and his brother and father had stopped financially supporting him. He was going to be evicted from his apartment prior to the shooting, he said.
The gunman had no adult criminal history or Red Flags that would have prevented him from legally obtaining a gun, Ison said. He had a few brushes with police when he was a juvenile, including once when he brought a knife to school. Ison didn’t say which school the knife incident happened at, though he did attend Greenwood, Center Grove and a school in Columbus at different points while he lived in Indiana.
The FBI and GPD attempted to recover data from his laptop and cell phone but have been unsuccessful. The laptop was found in the oven with butane, which had exploded and damaged the laptop beyond recovery, Ison said.
The cell phone was dried out, but it is password locked and the FBI is still trying to determine the password. The phone is hooked up to a machine that is attempting to crack into the phone. It could take a while as there are “about a million combinations,” Ison said.
The agencies have served many warrants and have attempted to determine the motive by combing through his social media. In all the warrants, there was no manifesto or note uncovered, nor any posts making any threats to shoot up the mall, Ison said.
He didn’t have many friends, but police interviewed two that they knew of and his ex-girlfriend, as well as his family members, Ison said.
His family was surprised to hear he would do something like this, however, his friends saw him as the “school shooter type” though he never made any specific threats, Ison said.
His friends also described him as being fascinated with Nazi Germany, guns and drugs, he said.
His ex-girlfriend said he was racist against Black and Hispanic people because of his experiences growing up in foster care. However, his comments online don’t suggest he was racist, Ison said.
The shooter had a fascination with Nazi Germany and studied extensively about World War II, his family and friends told police. He posted under the username Greater German Reich on Reddit and seemed to be fascinated with and knowledgeable about mass shootings. He seemed to almost idolize mass shooters in some of the comments, Ison said.
His posts about mass shootings raised a red flag with one user in 2019 and a tip was reported to the FBI field office in Baltimore. After an investigation, a warrant was served for his IP address at Polo Run in 2020, Ison said.
However, the FBI was unable to determine who posted the comments because he was using the complex’s free WiFi and the FBI could not trace the comments to a specific person, Ison said.
After examining social media “there is no clear motive” about reasoning, time or place of the shooting, Ison said.
Though people who were hit were all Hispanic, Ison says it was likely a coincidence. Because the gunman was in the bathroom for an hour, he had no way of knowing who would be outside when he opened fire. The victims are most likely just the people closest to him when exiting the bathroom, Ison said.
Ison also updated the public on Dicken. He said the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office has determined Dicken’s use of force was lawful and he will not be charged. Police believe Dicken’s actions stopped more people from dying that day.
Dicken’s attorney Guy Relford held a separate press conference to update the public following the GPD and FBI press conference.
Ison also said GPD has no plan to release any video out of respect for the families of the people killed.
Read the full update here.Â
