GREENWOOD, Ind. (AP) — Three people were killed and two were wounded after a man entered a shopping mall in suburban Indianapolis and opened fire before a civilian gunman shot and killed him, authorities said.
The gunman, whose name and probable motive have not been released, entered the Greenwood Park Mall with a rifle and several magazines of ammunition shortly before it closed at 6 p.m. Sunday and began shooting into the eatery, the chief of Greenwood police Jim Ison said at a news conference.
A 22-year-old man from nearby Bartholomew County shot and killed the shooter, Ison said. The investigation is ongoing and authorities have not said if all the victims were shot by the gunman or if some may have been caught in the crossfire. Authorities are expected to release additional details from the investigation at a press conference later Monday.
“The real hero of the day is the citizen who was legally carrying a firearm in this food court and was able to stop the shooter almost as soon as he started,” said Ison, who did not release details about the civilian, including whether the person was exempt from the commercial ban center for people to carry weapons on the property.
As of July 1, Indiana law allows anyone 18 and older to carry a handgun in public, except those prohibited for reasons such as a felony conviction, facing a restraining order or dangerous mental illness determined by a court. Indiana’s Republican-dominated Legislature kept provisions in the law that allow private property owners to ban firearms.
Sunday’s attack was just the latest in a series of mass shootings in the US. Schools, churches, grocery stores and a Fourth of July parade near Chicago have become sites for killings in recent months, though the country’s staggering level of murder can often be seen more clearly in individual killings that rarely make big headlines.
Four of the mall shooting victims were women and one man, Ison said. He did not immediately know the gender or age of those killed. The 12-year-old girl and the other injured man were in stable condition, he said.
Police confiscated a suspicious backpack that was in a bathroom near the eatery, Ison said.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and multiple other agencies were assisting in the investigation.
“We are disgusted by another incident like this in our country,” said Indianapolis Police Assistant Chief Chris Bailey.
Mark Myers, the mayor of Greenwood, a suburb of about 60,000 people south of Indianapolis, asked the public to pray for the victims and first responders.
“This tragedy cuts to the core of our community,” Myers said in a statement.
Greenwood Park Mall said in a statement that it mourned the victims and praised first responders as well as the “heroic actions” of the 22-year-old, who police say killed the shooter. The mall was closed on Monday.
“Violence has no place in this or any other community,” the mall said.
Add Comment