Please note: These audio files are a selection from dozens turned over to the media on Wednesday by Johnson County law enforcement that are audio tapes of the 911 calls made following an active shooter at the Greenwood Park Mall on Sunday afternoon.
ORIGINAL STORY
Five Bartholomew County E-911 dispatchers assisted first responders at the Greenwood Park Mall active shooter incident Sunday night by taking the overflow 911 calls from Johnson County pouring in from individuals at the scene.
It is believed to the first time that the “rollover” of 911 calls occurred automatically between the two counties, said Bartholomew County 911 Emergency Operations Center Director Todd Noblitt. It occurred when the number of calls going to Johnson County 911 became so nonstop after an active shooter was reported at the mall at about 6 p.m. Sunday that the calls began automatically rolling over to Bartholomew County for assistance.
Sheriff Matt Myers said the operations center’s quick thinking in responding to the calls assisted first responders at the scene tremendously and allowed the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department to reroute two deputies heading into work from the Franklin area to instead head to Greenwood to assist at the mall.
Noblitt said the five dispatchers were working their normal shift when multiple 911 calls from Johnson County started coming in about the active shooter situation at the mall. The dispatchers immediately began dispatching law enforcement to Johnson County and did a mass notification to all Bartholomew County law enforcement just minutes after 6 p.m., notifying them of the mall shooting. As a result, two Columbus Police Department officers were sent to assist as well and provided traffic enforcement to keep people away from the mall during the investigation.
About 50 calls came into Bartholomew County dispatch from Johnson County, the majority from individuals either inside the mall or those who had left the mall and were then reporting from outside, Noblitt said. The calls went to all the dispatchers as they continued to dispatch Bartholomew County first responders to incidents here.
“They just did a fantastic job,” Noblitt said of the dispatchers. “One of the things we do is train for active shooter situations, and we will be looking at our procedures and training after this,” he said. “We train for these calls coming in as far as taking a neighboring county’s calls.”
Noblitt, making a reference to now-retired former center director Ed Reuter and his push for more technology to expand what 911 can do, said the technology now in place gives the opportunity for E-911 to help other counties when needed.
“This is one of the things that 911 tech has allowed us to do,” he said. “Technology, and relationships (with other counties) matter.”
The two deputies who were dispatched to Greenwood were able to reach the mall within minutes with lights and sirens as they were already in the Franklin area when the mass shooting notification went out, said sheriff’s department Chief Deputy Maj. Chris Lane.
Sgt. Andrew Dougan and K-9 officer Brandon Sellers went to Greenwood after Dougan heard police radio traffic about Greenwood and notified Sellers, who was also preparing to go to work Sunday night. The two notified their supervisors and were then dispatched to Greenwood, where they went to the JC Penney entrance at the mall and found one Greenwood police officer.
Because the state now has a universal radio system tied into the 911 system, the two were able to access Greenwood’s police frequency and could communicate with officers at the scene.
In the meantime, other Bartholomew County Sheriff deputies were assigned to the northern area of Bartholomew County, prepared to cover Johnson County calls if needed as the investigation in Greenwood continued, Lane said.
A short time later, Dougan and Sellars were assigned with the Greenwood officer to clear JC Penney of anyone inside and help people out and then expanded into other parts of the mall to get people out of the building, Lane said.
“They were looking for anyone wounded and any other suspects,” Lane said. The process took several hours before it was determined that multiple SWAT teams would then go in and do another sweep to make sure everyone was out of the building, he said.
After that, the two officers stayed at incident command at the mall until they were released to return to Bartholomew County, where they finished their shift without incident, Lane said.
Lane commended Seymour resident Elisjsha “Eli” Dicken, who is credited with shooting 20-year-old Greenwood resident Jonathan Douglas Sapirman, who opened fire with an automatic rifle, killing three people before being shot by Dicken.
“This young man, (Dicken) I know everybody knows that first responders and we are paid to go in and do this when the calls go out. But the real hero of the day was him. If he wouldn’t have done what he did, there was a loss of life of three, but that could have been tenfold. The Greenwood police chief said the time from when he (Sapirman) exited the bathroom to the time he was neutralized was two minutes. If he (Dicken) wouldn’t have been in there, well, seconds count. That kid goes into the situation putting his life in jeopardy and he did it to save lives. I’m proud of my guys who went when they heard the call, but that young man saved lives.”
The Greenwood police corrected their original time frame of 2 minutes on Wednesday, saying the time that elapsed between the shooting and the shooter being neutralized was 15 seconds.
