Muhammed Safder, a board member of the Muslim Community Center, speaks at the prayer vigil Friday held for the victims and those involved in the Greenwood Park Mall shooting. Safder recounted how he and his daughter were at the mall in Barnes and Noble when the shooting happened.
EMILY KETTERER | DAILY JOURNAL
GREENWOOD — Days after the city of Greenwood was struck with tragedy, the community gathered to pray, heal and try to move past last week’s shooting at the Greenwood Park Mall.
Religious leaders, city leaders and residents from Greenwood and Indianapolis sat on the lawn or gathered on the stage at the Greenwood Amphitheater as the sun set Friday evening for a prayer vigil.
They prayed for and remembered the three victims in the shooting, Victor Gomez and husband and wife, Pedro Pineda and Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda. They also prayed for the two people injured, witnesses, mall employees, first responders and the community. The prayers and songs that rang out across the amphitheater spanned many religions — Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Catholic and Protestant.
Representatives from the American Red Cross, therapy dogs and emotional support teams were also on-site for support.
Elisjsha Dicken, the 22-year-old, armed bystander who shot the gunman down in 15 seconds after he opened fire in the mall food court, was prayed for and honored as well.
The community also prayed for the mall gunman’s family, calling for peace and forgiveness as they are also grieving.
Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers said Friday that this week he found himself often asking “why,” trying to find an answer to how an event like this could happen in this community.
“Why Greenwood?” Myers said. “Why did this happen? Why did those innocent people, who did nothing more than be at the mall, have to die?”
The answers to those questions may never be found, he said. Coming together for this vigil allows the community to start to heal, he said. He called on the community to become stronger and more resilient in the aftermath of the tragedy.
“This shooting will not define Greenwood. It will not define our community. I will not allow that to happen,” Myers said. “How we embrace the hurt, how we support each other, that will be a part of our legacy.”
Muhammad Safder, a Beech Grove resident and board member of the Muslim Community Center, was with his 18-year-old daughter at the Greenwood Park Mall the day of the shooting, he recounted Friday during the vigil. He and his daughter were spending time together at the mall as she wanted to spend some gift cards she received for graduation.
They were eating in the food court during what police say is the time the shooter was in the bathroom preparing, between 5 and 6 p.m. Safder’s daughter had originally asked they stay longer and eat dinner in the food court, but Safder decided they could eat at home and have a snack instead.
“We were sitting there complaining about pretzels and the quality of the pretzels,” Safder said. “It was shocking when I found out that actually the shooter was actually there when we were there.”
They ended up being in the checkout at Barnes and Noble book store at the other end of the mall around the time when the shooting happened, Safder said. The store was going into lockdown when they decided to go to their car and leave.
“It didn’t hit me until we got home. We heard that there were fatalities and people killed, which was kind of shocking. To me, it didn’t sink in until that time, like, ‘Oh my god, we were there,’” he said.
Husband and wife David and Amy Daugherty were eating at BJ’s restaurant at the mall when the shooting happened, they said. They attended the vigil along with people from their church, Greenwood Christian Church, to pray for and support the community.
David Daugherty was particularly thinking of Dicken in his prayers, he said.
“Unfortunately, I can’t imagine what he’s going through,” he said.
Christie Vleck, of Greenwood, also said she wanted to support the community, victims and those traumatized by the shooting.
“We have to find something to bring us together,” Vleck said. “People are afraid to go anywhere, it’s sad.”
Longtime Greenwood resident Becki Habig said she hopes Greenwood will come together as the city heals in the aftermath of the shooting.
“I’ve just done nothing but think about this all week,” Habig said. “I love Greenwood, and this is not what I want it to be remembered for.”
