Shoppers evacuate from the Greenwood Park Mall following a mass shooting July 17, 2022. An Indiana appellate court is hearing a request to possibly dismiss the lawsuit.
Daily Journal File Photo
A lawsuit filed by some of the victims of the 2022 mass shooting at the Greenwood Park Mall faces possible dismissal by an appellate court.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has agreed to hear a request by Simon Property Group and Allied Universal Event Services to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Kaya Stewart and her family. Stewart was one of several people who were injured during the shooting but survived.
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 backpack containing 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 Victor Gomez and Pedro and Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda. 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, ending when Dicken shot the gunman.
In January, Stewart and her family sued the mall’s owner and security company for negligence in failing to prevent the shooting, saying Stewart suffered severe, life-threatening injuries from being shot. 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 the mall and the security agency’s negligence 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 in that lawsuit.
“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 mass shooter,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit alleges Simon had a “duty of reasonable care” to protect Stewart, the juvenile and other patrons against dangers the mall knew or should have known.
Stewart’s attorneys also allege both Simon and Allied had a duty to provide a safe shopping mall for customers but failed. The mall and the security agency should have taken “reasonable steps” to prevent the shooting from occurring, according to the lawsuit.
Simon and Allied had asked a Marion County judge to dismiss the lawsuit in May, and the judge denied the request. The companies appealed the decision to the appellate court on July 19, with the court agreeing to hear it Friday.
No hearings have been set yet for the appellate case.
Stewart’s lawsuit is the first of three lawsuits to be filed against Simon and Allied regarding the 2022 mall shooting. The families of Victor Gomez and Pedro and Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda, who were killed in the shooting, filed their own respective lawsuits on July 10 against the companies, claiming wrongful death and that the companies were negligent in failing to prevent the incident.
The victims and their families in all three lawsuits are being represented by the same firm: Cohen & Malad, LLP. Simon and Allied have not filed any motions to dismiss the Gomez and Pineda lawsuits as of Monday afternoon.
