GREENWOOD, Ind. (AP) — Three people were fatally shot and two were wounded, including a 12-year-old girl, at an Indiana mall after a man with a rifle opened fire in a diner and a civilian gunman shot and killed him, police said. .
The man entered the Greenwood Park Mall Sunday night with a rifle and several magazines of ammunition and began shooting into the diner, Greenwood Police Chief Jim Ison said.
All three died except for the man with the rifle. The shooter’s identity and possible motive were not immediately known.
A 22-year-old man from nearby Bartholomew County, who was legally carrying a firearm into the mall, shot and killed the gunman, Ison said at a news conference.
“The real hero of the day is the citizen who legally carried a firearm in this food court and was able to stop the shooter almost as soon as he started,” Ison said.
The mass shooting was the latest to unnerve Americans in 2022. Schools, churches, grocery stores and the July 4th parade in Highland Park, Illinois, have become sites of killings in recent months. Still, the reality of America’s staggering homicide rate can often be seen more clearly in individual deaths that rarely make the news.
Officers went to the mall around 6 p.m. for reports of a shooting. Four of those shot were women and one man, Ison said. He did not immediately know the gender or age of those killed. The 12-year-old girl and the other victim were in stable condition, he said.
Police confiscated a suspicious backpack that was in a bathroom near the eatery, Ison said.
A press conference with authorities was scheduled for Monday afternoon to provide updates.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and multiple other agencies were assisting in the investigation.
“We are disgusted by another incident like this in our country,” said Indianapolis Police Assistant Chief Chris Bailey.
There was no threat to the area Sunday night, authorities said.
Greenwood is a southern suburb of Indianapolis with a population of about 60,000. Mayor Mark Myers asked for “prayers for the victims and our first responders.”
“This tragedy cuts to the core of our community,” Myers said in a statement.
Greenwood Park Mall said in a statement that it mourned the victims and praised first responders as well as the “heroic actions” of the 22-year-old, who police say fatally shot the gunman. The mall was closed on Monday.
“Violence has no place in this or any other community,” the mall said.
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