The FBI has not been able to determine the motive for an Indiana mall shooting in July that left three victims dead in the food court, but a 22-year-old man who thwarted the attack using a legally carried handgun will not be charged.
Five months ago, 20-year-old Jonathan Sapirman opened fire inside the Greenwood Park Mall food court on July 17 at approximately 5:56 p.m. He killed three people — 56-year-old Pedro Pineda, 30-year-old Victor Gomez, and 37-year-old Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda – and injured several others, police said.
“His horrific actions were abruptly ended by Elisjsha Dicken, a 22-year-old man who was lawfully carrying a handgun,” Greenwood police Chief James Ison said at a press conference Wednesday.
Greenwood police and the FBI hosted the event to provide possibly the final update to the investigation.
INDIANA POLICE SAY ‘GOOD SAMARITAN’ TOOK OUT MALL SHOOTER IN 15 SECONDS, LANDED 8 OF 10 SHOTS
Elisjsha Dicken, 22, of Seymour, was identified as the bystander who shot and killed a gunman who opened fire at the Greenwood Park Mall in Indiana.
(The Dicken Family)
The FBI has not been able to determine a motive, but Ison did reveal more of the alleged shooter’s online history. Despite the three deceased victims being Hispanic, there is no definitive proof Sapirman targeted them because of their race, and the accused shooter did not post any manifesto, Ison said.
Ison said he reviewed surveillance video of the accused shooter entering the mall that day. He is believed to have spent about an hour in a bathroom before the shooting at the food court.
“I watched the video – he walked into the mall with a backpack on, texting or looking like he was texting, had his head down. Not one person that he walked by – because I was looking for it – not one person it caught their attention or you saw change in their demeanor,” Ison said. “I don’t know how you stop that short of putting metal detectors at every door, could you imagine? And at every entrance? Sometimes all we can hope for is an Elisjsha Dicken to be in the right place at the right time.”
Dicken was shopping at the mall with his girlfriend. They stopped at an Asian restaurant to have dinner.
Teddy bears and flowers are sit as a memorial outside of theGreenwood Park Mall food court on July 18, 2022 in Greenwood, Indiana.
(Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
When shots rang out, Ison described how Dicken intervened almost immediately from 40 yards away.
“It was instantaneous. He stood up, and he engaged the shooter from a very long distance,” Ison said.
Prosecutors said they will not pursue any criminal charges against Dicken.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the response. Our response, public safety as a whole, there were I believe 15 or 16 police agencies that responded to that,” Ison said. “They worked very well together, and it went really well – But let’s not forget that the trajectory of this incident was changed by Elisjsha Dicken. It could have been a lot worse, and I’m thankful that it wasn’t.”
Police gather outside a Dick’s Sporting Goods in Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Indiana.
(Facebook/@Ty J S)
A laptop was found in the oven of the shooter’s apartment. A butane tank had been placed inside the oven which exploded, and the laptop was so badly damaged that investigators could not access the files.
The accused shooter’s cell phone was located in a toilet of the mall food court restroom submerged in water.
FBI at headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, dried the cell phone and got it to power up but have so far been unable to break the six-digit passcode lock. It is hooked up to software designed to run the approximately one million possible combinations, and the ongoing process could take years, Ison said.
Sapirman, who was in and out of foster care and homeless as a child, shared posts showing that he was very well-versed on mass shooting events, World War II, and the Nazis but at no point indicated that he idealized the shooters or Nazism, and even criticized someone for posting a Swastika, Ison said.
A truck blocks the entrance to the closed Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Indiana.
(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
An ex-girlfriend told investigators that he was racist, but his posts did not show he held any racist beliefs.
Ison read one comment written by Sapirman on Dec. 30, 2019, on a sub-Reddit thread about mass killings. Sapirman allegedly wrote, “if you look at the big picture, most shootings have not statistically happened at gun free zones. Gun free zones are a recent phenomenon that by definition cause them to be easy targets. Most shooters don’t attack designated gun free zones but places where people don’t usually carry guns, for example, Devin Kelley.”
Kelley allegedly opened fire at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, in November 2017. Sapirman also allegedly wrote that he researched Sandy Hook for a little over two years.
“When someone makes their mind up that they’re going to do something evil like this it’s really hard to stop,” Ison said. “What really has to happen is that we all as a society have to be more vigilant.”
Greenwood Mayor Mark W. Myers enters a press conference in the Greenwood City Center Council Chambers on July 18, 2022, in Greenwood, Indiana.
(Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
Before the shooting, Sapirman’s brother took his name off the lease to the apartment they once shared, and his father cut him off financially.
“The bottom line is this is a young man who had a very troubled upbringing, and I think his world was crashing in and around him, and unfortunately this was the result,” Ison said. “I don’t believe he had plans to survive.”
Just an hour before he went to the mall, Sapirman shared a post to 4chan in his apartment with the same weapons used and him wearing the same attire, including a chest rig. He pointed a gun to the back of his head, captioning the picture, “My name is Jonathan, and it’s a good day to die,” Ison said.
The investigation remains active, but police don’t foresee anything substantial coming off the phone, Ison said.
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Investigators have obtained cell phone call and text message logs, Internet browsing history, and cloud history, but nothing of significance was found, police said. Law enforcement also conducted interviews with family members, ex-foster parents and friends, and served search warrants on Facebook, Instagram, 4chan, Reddit, Apple, AT&T, Verizon, Bandwidth.com, TextNow, Inc., and Google. Thousands of documents have been subpoenaed and reviewed.
Sapirman had juvenile arrests for incidents including allegedly bringing a knife onto school property and fighting at school, but no criminal history or threats of violence as an adult. Child Protective Services investigated allegations of abuse and neglect against him when he was growing up.
