Police release details of Greenwood mall shooting, including identities of shooter, ‘good Samaritan’

Editor’s note: This article has been updated as of 3:40 p.m. July 18.

Greenwood officials disclosed Monday afternoon that the shooter who killed three people at Greenwood Park Mall on Sunday evening — and then was shot and killed by a “good Samaritan” bystander — was a 20-year-old city resident who had run-ins with police as a juvenile.

Police identified the shooter as Jonathan Douglas Sapirman, who entered the mall at 4:54 p.m. and then spent about an hour in the food court bathroom before emerging with a rifle, two other weapons and more than 100 rounds of ammunition.

Investigators believe Sapirman spent that hour preparing and possibly assembling a rifle that he had brought in his backpack. He ended up firing 24 rounds within two minutes.

Those killed by Sapirman were Pedro Pineda, 56, and his wife, 37-year-old Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda, both of Indianapolis; as well as 30-year-old Victor Gomez, also of Indianapolis.

Sapirman was confronted by 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken at 5:57 p.m. He fired 10 rounds at Sapirman, who was hit and dropped to the ground.

Greenwood Police Chief James Ison praised Dicken and asked local media to refrain from contacting him until he has had time to process the incident.

“We’re very thankful for the 22-year-old man who stopped this violent act … and who saved countless lives,” Ison said.

Dicken, a resident of Seymour, was shopping at the mall with his girlfriend when the incident took place.

Sapirman’s juvenile record included a school fight and a runaway incident. Police said he purchased two of his weapons in March. They believe he didn’t have a car and that he walked to the mall on Sunday.

Police also said Sapirman’s family indicated he had been practicing at a Range USA firing range for two years.

Authorities were still trying to determine a motive for the attack, Ison said.

Although authorities said Dicken was legally armed, the mall prohibits people from carrying weapons on its property.

As of July 1, Indiana law allows anyone age 18 or older to carry a handgun in public except for those prohibited for reasons such as having a felony conviction, facing a restraining order or having a dangerous mental illness as determined by a court.

Indiana’s Republican-dominated Legislature retained provisions in the law that allow private property owners to prohibit firearms.