The three people who were fatally shot Sunday evening at Indiana’s Greenwood Park mall have been identified. The Johnson County coroner announced that a couple – Pedro Piñeda, age 56, and Rosa Mirian Rivera de Piñeda, age 37 – and Victor Gomez, age 30, were killed in the incident.
A man, Jonathan Sapirman, 20, with a rifle opened fire in a food court. Elisjsha Dicken, a 22-year-old armed shopper, shot and killed him.
Also read: Greenwood Park Mall shooting: Are guns allowed in Indiana shopping centres?
The man entered the Greenwood Park Mall with a rifle and several magazines of ammunition and began firing in the food court, Greenwood Police Department Chief Jim Ison said.
Dicken, who is from nearby Bartholomew County, was legally carrying a firearm at the mall. He shot and killed the gunman, Ison said at a news conference.
Also Read | Greenwood Park Mall shooting: Senator Todd Young reacts
He said a 12-year-old girl was among the two injured, both of whom are in stable condition.Police confiscated a suspicious backpack that was in a bathroom near the food court, Ison said.
Officers went to the mall at about 6 PM. for reports of the shooting.
“The real hero of the day is the citizen that was lawfully carrying a firearm in that food court and was able to stop the shooter almost as soon as he began,” Ison said.
Also Read | Why Biden administration’s workplace LBGTQ directives were temporarily barred
The mass shooting was just the latest to unnerve Americans in 2022. Schools, churches, grocery stores and a July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois, have all become killing grounds in recent months. Still, the reality of America’s staggering murder rate can often be seen more clearly in individual deaths that rarely make the news.
“We are sickened by yet another type of incident like this in our country,” Indianapolis Assistant Chief of Police Chris Bailey said.
Greenwood is a south suburb of Indianapolis with a population of about 60,000. Mayor Mark Myers asked for “prayers to the victims and our first responders.”
Who were Pedro Piñeda and Rosa Mirian Rivera de Piñeda?
The couple had been together for about 20 years, indystar.com reported, quoting Maldonado, their neighbor. They were from El Salvador and moved to Indianapolis. Pedro worked in construction, repairing and painting homes. Rosa would babysit.
Maldonado’s child Oscar said that he and his sister used to call her Rosy: “She was like a second mother, very nice and nurturing.”