Shoppers evacuate from the Greenwood Park Mall following a mass shooting on July 17, 2022. Daily Journal File Photo
The families of three people fatally shot during the Greenwood Park Mall shooting nearly two years ago are suing the mall’s owner and security company for wrongful death and negligence in failing to prevent the incident.
Attorneys for the families of Victor Gomez and Pedro and Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda are suing Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group and the mall’s security agency, California-based Allied Universal Event Services. Indianapolis residents Pedro Pineda, 56, and Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda, 37, along with Victor Gomez, 30, were killed in the shooting.
Although the shooting took place in Johnson County, the lawsuits were filed in Marion County as it was where Simon is located, along with the registered agent of Allied. The suits, filed Tuesday in Marion Superior Court 6, accuse both organizations of wrongful death, negligence and gross negligence. Simon is also being sued on a separate count under Indiana’s Premise Liability Law, which says a property owner is responsible for any injuries, damages or deaths that occur to people who are legally on their property if the incident occurs because of unsafe property conditions.
The suit filed by Gomez’s family has an additional claim: “negligent infliction of emotional distress.”
Simon has not yet responded to a request for comment on the lawsuit. An Allied spokesperson said they do not comment on pending litigation.
On the afternoon of July 17, 2022, a 20-year-old gunman entered the Greenwood Park Mall at an entrance near the food court with a bag of guns. He went into the bathroom near the food court for an hour to prepare for the shooting.
He opened fire around 5:56 p.m., killing the Pinedas and Victor Gomez. He also injured a 22-year-old female and a 12-year-old female before he was fatally shot by 22-year-old Seymour resident Elisjsha “Eli” Dicken, the armed bystander hailed as a “good Samaritan.”
The shooting itself lasted for 15 seconds, until the gunman was shot by Dicken.
Both lawsuits, which were filed by relatives of the Pinedas and Gomez, respectively, argue that both Simon and Allied Universal should have been able to spot the threat of the shooter and do more to protect customers from the violence. They also accuse the companies of allocating security “unevenly from one demographic area to the other” and without “proper regard” to specific threats received and dangers posed at certain malls like Greenwood, according to the lawsuits.
“It was foreseeable to Simon and Allied that something catastrophic and/or similar to this shooting could occur, particularly because the assailant was seen, or should have been seen, walking through the parking lot of the mall, into the mall and into a restroom near the food court while carrying a heavy, long black backpack, then remaining in that restroom for more than an hour while he prepared to shoot innocent patrons,” a line in both lawsuits says. “It was foreseeable to Simon and Allied on July 17, 2022, that this particular perpetrator — given his age, appearance, behavior, and because of the unique backpack he was carrying — all fit the well-recognized profile of a potential shooter.”
The lawsuits allege both Simon and Allied had “a duty of reasonable care” to protect the victims and other patrons in inside the mall against dangers the mall knew or should have known.
The lawsuit filed by Gomez’s family says Simon and Allied’s alleged negligence caused his widow to be “put in fear” of the safety of herself and her three young children, who were in the women’s restroom when the shooting occurred. There was also fear and shock of the children witnessing the aftermath of their father’s death, which “resulted in short-term and long-term shock, fright and emotional distress,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuits request jury trials seeking unspecified damages from the companies.
The two new lawsuits are not the first to be filed by a victim or their family in connection with the shooting. In January, a different Indianapolis woman who was also shot during the shooting sued the mall’s owner and security company for negligence in failing to prevent the shooting.
Attorneys for Kaya Stewart and her family filed that lawsuit, which says Stewart suffered severe, life-threatening injuries from being shot. Stewart was one of several people who were injured during the shooting but survived the injury. She was sitting at a table in the food court near where the gunman opened fire. The gunman first shot at a juvenile relative with her, missing them but striking several items they had in their hands, according to the lawsuit.
Stewart’s attorneys allege negligence on the part of the mall and the security agency, which caused her and the juvenile to be in fear of their safety, and to obtain bodily injuries and other damages. Stewart’s mother, who was present at the mall the day of the shooting, and her father, are co-plaintiffs on that lawsuit.
