GREENWOOD — In just 15 seconds, police said a mass shooter fired 24 rounds, killing three and injuring two more inside the Greenwood Park Mall Sunday night before the suspect was shot to death by an armed citizen.
From 5:56:48 to 5:57:03 p.m., Jonathan Douglas Sapirman sprayed two dozen 5.56-caliber rounds into the food court using a Sig Sauer M400, an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle, Greenwood Police Chief Jim Ison said. Police initially said the gunman was firing in the mall for two minutes.
During a press conference Monday, Ison said the shooter was shot by the armed civilian in two minutes. In a statement on Tuesday, the chief said he misread notes during the press conference and it was only 15 seconds until the shooter was shot by the armed civilian.
"He had multiple magazines and over 100 rounds of ammunition on his person and in his possession," Ison said.
Sapirman, 20, Greenwood, was seen on video surveillance entering the mall through a door near the food court at 4:54 p.m., Ison said. He spent an hour inside a bathroom before coming out shooting.
He shot into the mall at random, police said, killing Victor Gomez, 30, Pedro Pineda, 56, and Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda, 37. Gomez was walking into the bathroom and the Pinedas, a husband and wife, were eating dinner when they were killed, Ison said.
A 22-year old woman was shot in the leg and is recovering at Eskenazi Hospital, Ison said.
A 12-year-old girl was running towards an exit and suffered a minor injury when she was hit by a ricocheted bullet fragment, Ison said. Doctors later removed a small piece of the bullet's metal jacket from the girl's wound, Ison said.
Sapirman was shot to death by an armed citizen, Elisjsah Dicken, 22, Seymour. Ison and Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers called Dicken a hero and credited him with saving many lives at the mall that night.
No adult criminal history
Sapirman had no adult criminal record and only minor scrapes with the law as a juvenile, Ison said. Greenwood police records show Sapirman was involved in a fight at school and ran away from home once, Ison said.
"He does not drive. We believe that he walked to the Greenwood Park Mall last night," Ison said. "We were told by family members that he typically walks or Ubers to wherever he needs to go."
He graduated from Greenwood High School and lived alone in a unit at the Polo Run Apartments, Ison said. Sapirman's apartment complex is close to the mall, but walking means crossing a busy U.S. 31.
Guns purchased legally
Police believe he carried two disassembled AR-15-style rifles into the mall inside a backpack. He also had a .357-caliber Glock 33 handgun, police said.
Police believe he assembled the Sig Sauer while he hid out in the bathroom. Sapirman dropped his cell phone into a toilet and left the backpack and the other rifle, a Smith and Wesson M&P 15, in the bathroom when he exited and started shooting, Ison said.
Sapirman purchased the Sig Sauer legally at a Greenwood store on March 8; and the M&P 15 at a Greenwood store on March 9, 2021, Ison said.
Motive unknown
Sapirman did not know any of the victims and investigators have no clue yet as to why he started shooting, Ison said.
"Right now we have no motive at all," Ison said.
Clues might be found in Sapirman's phone, recovered after it was submerged in toilet water in the mall bathroom.
In Sapirman's apartment, Ison said police found a laptop stuffed inside an oven turned up to high heat along with a can of butane.
The laptop and the phone are in the hands of FBI experts who will try to extract the data, Ison said.
WRTV Reporter Nikki DeMentri contributed to this report.
Contact WRTV reporter Vic Ryckaert at victor.ryckaert@wrtv.com or on Twitter: @vicryc.
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