One year later: Recognizing hero who stopped Greenwood Park Mall shooting
GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) — One year has passed since the Greenwood Park Mall mass shooting that killed three people.
Police praised Elisjsha Dicken, an armed civilian who took down the shooter and survived. News 8 spoke with Dicken’s attorney, Guy Relford, about how Dicken’s life has been since the tragedy.
While the pain lingers one year after the shooting, Relford says Dicken has received numerous messages from people thanking him for his decision on that dreadful day. “I have passed those on to Eli, and they’ve meant a lot to him, and that’s a big deal, and that’s overwhelmingly positive.”
On July 17, the world fell apart for the Pineda and Gomez families.
Police say 20-year-old Jonathan Sapirman entered the Greenwood Park Mall that Sunday afternoon with three guns.
Officials say Sapitman shot and killed 30-year-old Victor Gomez, 56-year-old Pedro Pineda, and his wife 37-year-old Rosa.
Police say Dicken was in the mall and quickly took action, killing the gunman.
“I don’t know how many people could have reacted that thoughtfully,” Relford said. “From the first shot that the shooter made killing an innocent person to the time that Eli stopped the shooting, the entire elapse time of that mass shooting was 15 seconds.”
Last week, the Greenwood Police Department shared it unlocked Sapirman’s phone to find photos of Hitler, Nazi propaganda, videos of mass killings, and even suicidal notes.
Relford says more people would have died if it weren’t for Dicken’s actions. “People understandably want to call him a hero because he is and talk about how he saved lives because he did. He saved countless lives, but you have to understand that’s still a difficult thing for a good moral young man like Eli. That’s still a difficult thing to go through.”
Relford says Dicken has also received support from his family and his girlfriend since the shooting.