Indiana appeals court to decide if Greenwood Park Mall shooting lawsuit will advance
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indiana Court of Appeals will decide if a lawsuit over the 2022 Greenwood Park Mall shooting should be tossed out of court.
The Appeals Court on Friday voted 2-1 to hear an appeal from Simon Property Group.
A Marion County judge in May refused to dismiss the lawsuit of Kaya Stewart filed Jan. 2 against the mall owner, Indianapolis-based Simon, and the mall’s security agency, California-based Allied Universal Event Services.
In the July 17, 2022, shooting, “Kaya Stewart was shot multiple times, incapacitated and sustained life-threatening injuries,” the lawsuit says.
Stewart; her juvenile sister; her mother, Eumeka R. Stewart; and her sister’s father, Samuel Stewart III, are seeking an undisclosed amount of compensation for “past and future economic damages.”
At 4:54 p.m. July 17, 2022, 20-year-old Jonathan Sapirman entered the mall and walked directly to the food court restroom with three guns and more than 100 rounds of ammunition, according to the Greenwood Police Department.
The lawsuit says Sapirman lingered the food court’s restroom for more than an hour before the shooting. “Upon information and belief, the Assailant spent more than an hour inside a stall of the men’s restroom, during which time he donned an ammunition vest and assembled several weapons which he intended to use to carry out a mass shooting, including a Sig Sauer model 400M rifle, a Smith and Wesson M&P15 rifle, and a Glock model 33 handgun, six fully loaded 5.56 magazines and two Glock 33 magazines. He also attempted to flush his cell phone down the toilet.”
Police say, about 5:56 p.m. that Sunday afternoon in the food court, Sapirman shot and killed 30-year-old Victor Gomez, 56-year-old Pedro Pineda, and his wife, 37-year-old Rosa Pindea.
Shortly after the shooting, Police Chief Jim Ison told the news media, “Sapirman then fired several more rounds into the food court, striking a 22-year-old female. A bullet fragment, believed to have ricocheted, hit a 12-year-old female who was running for the exit in the back.”
Elisjsha Dicken, a mall customer who killed Sapirman, survived the tragedy. Dicken, who was 22 when the shooting happened, is from Seymour. The lawsuit says he was legally carrying a Glock handgun while at the mall.
Police later found a note from Sapirman that said, “My final thoughts on paper. I’m a sociopath. I want to hurt people.”
