A man is dead following an argument-turned-shooting outside a Greenwood restaurant Wednesday.
First responders were called to Ale Emporium, 997 E. County Line Road, following a report of a person shot around 9:20 p.m. Wednesday. One man was found shot in the restaurant’s parking lot, and was taken to Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis, said Jim Ison, Greenwood police chief.
The man later died at the hospital and was identified Thursday morning by the Marion County Coroner’s Office as Timothy A. Sannito, 52.
Preliminarily, police believe Sannito and another man had an argument that led to him being shot. Detectives believe this may have been a targeted event, though they do not know enough to say if the two men knew each other, Ison said.
The suspected gunman fled the scene in a black SUV following the shooting, he said. Detectives currently do not have a suspect but have applied for search warrants in connection with the investigation.
Incidents like this can happen anywhere, and the city is still safe, Ison said. Greenwood averages about 1-2 murders a year, while neighboring Indianapolis often has more than 200.
“We do a pretty good job of keeping the violence and violent crimes low here,” he said. “… Unfortunately, it seems over the past few years we’re seeing more people displaying poor conflict resolution and using handguns in disagreements and arguments.”
Detectives are still actively investigating the shooting. Anyone with any information about the incident should call Greenwood Police at 317-882-9191 or Johnson County Public Safety Communications at 317-346-6336.
