A gunman was killed by an armed bystander two minutes after he began firing inside a mall in Indiana.
The shooting spree took place at the Greenwood Park Mall around 6 PM on Sunday (July 17), with multiple people calling the police to report an active shooter.
As reported by CNN, Greenwood Police Chief James Ison revealed that the gunman was identified as 20-year-old Jonathan Douglas Sapirman, who prepared for the shooting for an hour in a restroom before he appeared with a firearm.
Law enforcement confirmed that three people died as a result. The victims were identified as Pedro Pineda, 56, Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda, 37, and Victor Gomez, 30.
Two additional people were injured: a 22-year-old woman hospitalized with a leg injury and a 12-year-old girl hit by a bullet fragment.
The legally armed bystander who ended up shooting the gunman was identified as Elisjsha Dicken, 22. Dicken was able to stop Sapirman within two minutes after he had already fired 24 rounds from his gun. Dicken then fired 10 shots from his handgun.
Ison called Dicken’s actions "nothing short of heroic," and said, "he engaged the gunman from quite a distance with a handgun - was very proficient in that, very tactically sound, and as he moved to close in on the suspect he was also motioning for people to exit behind him."
"Many more people would have died last night if not for a responsible armed citizen that took action very quickly within the first two minutes of the shooting," Ison added.
Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb tweeted on Monday (July 18) that the state is grateful for the "quick, heroic actions taken by an individual citizen and first responders on Sunday evening in Greenwood, surely preventing further loss of life and injuries."
"I stand with the community in grieving the loss of lives, and my thoughts are also with the many people impacted by this traumatic incident, including innocent bystanders whose lives are forever changed," Holcomb continued in a second tweet.
Ison said there was no clear motive for the shooting. The gunman's family members reflected on his behavior before the shooting and said there were no signs that he was violent or dangerous.
However, Sapirman had recently received an eviction notice and quit his job in a warehouse in May. The Greenwood Chief Ison also revealed that the gunman had previous encounters with the local police, including for a fight at school.
The relatives also disclosed to the police that over the past two years, the 20-year-old had often practiced shooting at a gun range in Greenwood, which is approximately 15 miles south of Indianapolis.
