Family suing Greenwood Park Mall owners describe trauma caused by 2022 shooting
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The family suing the owners of Greenwood Park Mall on Wednesday spoke publicly for the first time since the 2022 mass shooting that killed three people.
The Stewart family told I-Team 8 that their daughters were excited to go to the mall that day.
“Especially after COVID, you now have a chance to go to the mall, maybe see some friends, do some much-needed school shopping and get some food at the food court,” said Sam Stewart III, father of the shooting survivor.
Stewart’s daughters were in the food court when Jonathan Sapirman opened fire killing 56-year-old Pedro Pineda, 37-year-old Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda, and 30-year-old Victor Gomez.
Stewart’s daughter Kaya was also shot.
“The first call that I got was from my wife basically just in a panic saying Kaya’s been shot. Those are words you never want to hear. She says I don’t know where she is. I don’t know if she’s alive,” Stewart said.
Kaya lived, but her life has been very difficult since the shooting.
“Has continual pain. Not currently able to work. Concerns with going out in public. Not wanting to be out at night,” Stewart said.
Kaya’s personality has changed as well.
“She’s lost something. I can see that. Her mom can see that. The therapist that she’s been seeing has acknowledged this as well,” Stewart said.
His youngest daughter was not shot but still lives with the trauma of what she saw.
“Seeing your sister getting shot multiple times. Seeing individuals dying in front of you. Smelling the gun smoke in the air. Seeing the blood on the ground. My youngest has said there was so much blood around that she could even sense, or taste, in her palate the iron from the blood in the air. That’s something even beyond a horror movie,” Stewart said.
In the lawsuit, the Stewart family claims Simon Property Group and the security company, Allied Universal,
had flaws in their security protocol that left the mall vulnerable to a mass shooting.
“It’s our belief that from Sapirman with his backpack, which is highly unusual. This is not a kid’s backpack that you take to college with you. It is designed for carrying weapons. His age. The hat pulled down over his eyes. He fits the profile of a mass shooter and they’ve got a room full of people that’s supposed to be watching for those types of people and they dropped the ball and he was on their property somewhere between an hour and ten to an hour and twenty minutes in a bathroom for over an hour that wasn’t checked,” said Greg Laker, the attorney who is representing the family.
I-Team 8 reached out via email to both Simon Property Group and Allied Universal to get a response to the lawsuit. Neither have responded.
Laker said the lawsuit could take several years to conclude. He anticipates other victims of the shooting will be filing lawsuits of their own in the future.