10:15 p.m. Sunday updagte
GREENWOOD, Ind. — Four people are dead and multiple people were hospitalized following a mass shooting at the Greenwood Park Mall Sunday evening.
The shooter, who was killed during the incident, 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.
First responders from numerous Johnson and Marion county agencies responded to a report of a shooting at Greenwood Park Mall shortly around 6 p.m. Sunday.
Five people inside the mall were shot during the shooting, three who are deceased. The two remaining people were taken to Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis in unknown condition, Ison said.
The shooter was shot and killed by a good Samaritan who had witnessed the shooting. The good Samaritan is cooperating with police, Ison said and was identified as a 22-year-old Bartholomew County resident.
Police found a long rifle with several ammo magazines with the shooter, he said. It is believed the shooter entered the food court. The incident was contained to that location, officials said.
“This type of situation is horrible it has rocked us to our core,” Ison said Sunday.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department assisted Greenwood police at the scene clearing the building. Officers from the IMPD SWAT team, along with other area tactical teams went methodically through the mall to clear the building, both Ison and IMPD assistant chief Christopher Bailey said Sunday.
“We are sickened by yet another type of incident like this in our country, in our city,” Bailey said.
Police did not say how many guns were at the scene or how many shots were fired. A backpack was left behind and it’s not clear if it belonged to the shooter.
Those who may have witnessed the shooting are being encouraged to go to the GPD Training Facility, 736 Loews Boulevard, to speak with officers. They can also call the Johnson County Dispatch Center at 317-346-6336, officials said.
Family reunification took place at the training facility, officials said.
Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers said in a statement issued Sunday evening that the shooting was a tragedy that hit at “the core of our community.”
“Please offer your prayers to the victims and our first responders,” Myers said.
9 p.m. Sunday update
By The Associated Press
GREENWOOD, Ind. (AP) — Four people, including a gunman, were killed Sunday evening at an Indiana mall after a man with a rifle opened fire in a food court and an armed civilian shot him, police said.
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.
An armed civilian killed the man, Ison said at a news conference. In total, four people were killed and two were injured, he said.
Officers went to the mall at about 6 p.m. for reports of the shooting. Authorities are searching the mall for any other victims, but they believes the shooting was contained to the food court.
Police have confiscated a suspicious backpack that was in a bathroom near the food court, Ison said.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police and multiple other agencies are assisting in the investigation.
“We are sickened by yet another type of incident like this in our country,” Indianapolis Assistant Chief of Police Chris Bailey said.
There is no active threat to the area and police have at least one suspect, he said.
Authorities said they would provide more details Sunday night.
8:47 p.m. Sunday update
WISH TV, the Republic’s newsgather partner, is now reporting three people died in a shooting at the Greenwood Park Mall Sunday.
Others are reporting a fourth person, the shooter, also dead, bringing the death toll to four, but that has not been confirmed by Greenwood police.
The television station is reporting multiple police departments responded to Greenwood Park Mall. Three people are dead, and three people are injured with conditions unknown, according to the Greenwood Police Department.
An eyewitness tells News 8 that a Good Samaritan shot and killed the shooter, during the incident. Greenwood Police Department indicted that the shooter was carrying a rifle. Greenwood Police believe that the Good Samaritan used a handgun to incapacitate the shooter.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department says officers were sent to assist the Greenwood Police Department with a shooting at the mall Sunday afternoon.
From The Franklin Daily Journal:
Those who may have witnessed the shooting are being encouraged to go GPD Training Facility, 736 Loews Boulevard, to speak with officers. They can also call the Johnson County Dispatch Center at 317-346-6336, officials said.
In the aftermath of the shooting, hundreds of witnesses, law enforcement and EMS are gathered outside of the mall on U.S. 31 in Greenwood following the reports of an active shooter in the building.
Witnesses standing outside the mall told the Daily Journal they heard several gunshots inside and ran out. One witness said they were ushered to the back of a store.
“I heard at least five shots from where I was … I was around the corner from where they started shooting,” Mark Tillbrey, a 16-year-old witness at the mall, said. “Everyone started running, and I started helping kids out.”
7:49 p.m. Sunday update
GREENWOOD, Ind. — Indianapolis police provided an update to media at about 7:40 p.m., confirming that two people were killed in a shooting at the Greenwood Park Mall and multiple other people are being treated at area hospitals after the shooting incident.
IMPD said there was not immediate public safety concern at the mall at this time, but could not confirm if one of the deceased individuals was the shooter in the incident.
Police also could not give a number of other individuals who were injured in the incident, saying that information will have to come from Greenwood police, who are the lead investigators in the incident.
IMPD did confirm the shooting occurred in the food court area, and the bodies of the deceased were still in that area at the time of the press conference.
A reunification site for individuals who were in the mall at the time of the shooting was set up at 736 Loews Blvd. nearby, with IndyGo buses transporting individuals there.
IMPD SWAT team members were going through the mall as the press conference continued to make sure individuals were not hiding in the facility after hearing the shots being fired, IMPD said.
Greenwood police also put out a message seeking any witnesses to the shooting at the mall to go the Loews Boulevard reunification site to speak with investigators.
ORIGINAL STORY
GREENWOOD, Ind. — Indianapolis television stations are reporting that two people were killed and two were injured in a shooting at the Greenwood Park Mall at about 6 p.m. Sunday.
A press conference is being prepared to provide details about the shooting, which is believed to have occurred in the mall’s food court.
Multiple gunshots were fired, according to witnesses who were interviewed at the scene.
The Indianapolis police department put out a tweet saying, “IMPD is assisting with an incident at the Greenwood Park Mall. Please avoid the area. Greenwood Police Department is the lead agency. Please avoid sharing misinformation on social media until they confirm details.
For more on this story, check back here, or pick up a Monday Republic.
