Though the matter remains under investigation, it appears that an armed bystander stopped a suspect who opened fire at an Indiana mall food court, says a local police chief.
A total of four people–including the suspect–are dead, Greenwood Police Chief Jim Ison told reporters outside the Greenwood Park Mall on Sunday. Two injured are at Eskenazi Hospital, he said. The facility is in nearby Indianapolis.
Inson told reporters that officers have not identified the slain suspect. He only described him as an “adult male” armed with a long gun. Investigators have no motive yet.
“It appears that he had a rifle with several magazines of ammunition, entered the food court and began shooting,” Ison said.
Witnesses at the scene gave no indication as to how this started, he said. Investigators are still questioning the armed bystander, he said.
The bystander “appears to be cooperating fully,” he said.
Ison also told reporters that Johnson County and state police bomb squads were called out to examine a suspicious-looking backpack discovered in a restroom.
Officers initially said that there were two people potentially dead and others injured (h/t WTHR reporter Jennie Runevitch).
UPDATE:
Police confirm the shooter in the incident at Greenwood Park Mall has died.Live report right now on @wthrcom
— Jennie Runevitch (@JennieWTHR) July 17, 2022
Initial reporting from the outlet’s Logan Gay has described about 20 gunshots in the Greenwood Mall food court.
.@LoganGayMMJ is on scene for us. She’s reporting people who were inside the mall at the time of the shooting heard ~20 gunshots in the food court.
— Jennie Runevitch (@JennieWTHR) July 17, 2022
Two witnesses speaking to WRTV’s Rafael Sánchez gave estimates of up to about 30 gunshots.
One of them, a worker at the mall, said she was standing at a store gate to close for the day. After hearing “30 gunshots,” she saw people running toward her store before she shut the gate.
“I was really, really scared,” she said. “I wanted to close the gate, but people kept running at me, and I just kept letting people in and in, and waiting, but it was really scary. Because I have three kids at home, and I just wanted to get home.”
Breaking: Workers and shoppers evacuated from Greenwood Park Mall south of Indianapolis following an active shooter situation Sunday afternoon. @wrtv Waiting to get more details. This is one lady story: pic.twitter.com/ZYJUIZ6hQk
— Rafael Sánchez (@RafaelOnTV) July 17, 2022
Another man said he saw bodies laying on the floor. He estimated 25 to 30 shots going off.
Asked about what he said when he called home, he said he was more concerned about his employees than himself.
“I have a couple of younger kids working–maybe 16, 17 years old–I was worried about how they were, them being traumatized, what their parents will be thinking, how they’ll be scared,” he said. “I made sure they called their parents and stuff.”
Breaking: Store employees helped customers as they fled shooting inside Greenwood Park Mall in Johnson County 15 minutes south of downtown Indy @wrtv pic.twitter.com/ARoY2Kfi5t
— Rafael Sánchez (@RafaelOnTV) July 17, 2022
All told, police have said there was no ongoing threat.
There are multiple casualties reference this incident. There is no known ongoing threat. Multiple agencies are assisting with clearing the mall. https://t.co/OBmm6IdYUd
— IMPD (@IMPDnews) July 17, 2022
Note: We added more information from a police press conference.
[Screenshot via WTHR]
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