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In article <t2nhmd$3ocvn$267@news.freedyn.de>
<governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:


Elisjsha Dicken is a 22-year-old Indiana man who is being
praised as a hero for stopping the mass shooter who gunned down
three people and wounded two Sunday at Greenwood Park Mall in
Greenwood, Indiana, just south of Indianapolis.

The gunman, named by the Marion County coroner as Jonathan
Sapirman, 20, of Greenwood, was shot and killed at the scene by
Dicken, who took action only two minutes into the rampage.
Greenwood’s mayor and police chief are calling Dicken, a good
Samaritan.

In a news conference on July 18, Greenwood police Chief James
Ison described the dramatic confrontation between Dicken and the
shooter, who had opened fire on people sitting in the food
court. Ison said he believed Dicken saved many lives.
“[Dicken’s] actions were nothing short of heroic. He engaged the
gunman from quite a distance with a handgun. Was very proficient
in that, very tactically sound,” said Ison, who revealed that
the shooting was captured on surveillance video. “And, as he
moved to close in on the suspect, he was also motioning for
people to exit behind him.”

You can read more about Sapirman’s troubled background here.

“Many more people would have died last night if not for a
responsible armed citizen that took action very quickly within
the first two minutes of this shooting,” Ison said.

Dicken’s name was released by authorities on July 18. City and
law enforcement officials said he had authorized them to release
his name to the public. Dicken was carrying the gun lawfully
under the state’s new constitutional carry law, police said,
although the mall had a policy of not allowing weapons on its
property.

What is constitutional carry in Indiana? It means a permit is
not needed to carry a handgun outside a home or business in
Indiana. The law went into place on July 1, 2022, according to
WTHR-TV.

Mayor Mark Myers wrote that police had confirmed that four
people died and two were injured, including a 12-year-old girl
who suffered minor injuries. The four deaths include the
shooter. The deceased victims were named by Marion County and
Johnson County coroners as Pedro Pineda, 56, of Indianapolis;
Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda, 37, of Indianapolis; and Victor
Gomez, 30, of Indianapolis. The Pinedas were husband and wife.

“We are sickened by yet another type of incident like this in
our country, in our city,” Chris Bailey, Indianapolis
Metropolitan Police Department assistant chief, said in a news
conference on July 17, 2022.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Dicken Shot Sapirman After He Exited From a Food Court
Restroom & Started Killing Diners, Police Said

Ison said in the Monday, July 18, news conference that Sapirman,
20, of Greenwood entered the mall through the food court
entrance at 4:54 p.m. He walked directly to the food court
restroom. He exited the restroom 1 hour and 2 minutes later.

He shot and killed victim Gomez outside the restroom. He pointed
his rifle into the food court, where the married victims were
eating dinner, and shot them to death. He then shot more rounds
into the food court, striking a 22-year-old female, who is at a
hospital recovering from a leg wound, the chief said. A bullet
fragment ricocheted off the wall, striking a 12-year-old girl
who was running away. Her minor wound was treated at the
hospital, where a small piece of metal jacket was removed.

The shooter was then stopped at 5:57 p.m. by Dicken. He was
armed with a pistol and engaged the shooter as Sapirman stood
outside the restroom area firing into the food court, Ison said.

“We are very thankful for a young 22-year-old man (Dicken) who
stopped this violent act,” the mayor said in a news conference
on July 18. “This young man — Greenwood’s good Samaritan — acted
within seconds, stopping the shooter and saving countless
lives.” Myers declared the city and state “grateful for his
heroism.” He said the good Samaritan was a “young man processing
a lot” who needed space and time.

Dicken fired several times, hitting Sapirman, who tried to
retreat into the restroom but fell to the ground after being
shot, Ison said. Police recovered 24 rifle rounds fired by the
suspect and 10 handgun rounds fired by Dicken.

Authorities also praised Dicken in news conferences shortly
after the mass shooting. “We do know that someone we are calling
the good Samaritan was able to shoot the assailant and stop
further bloodshed,” the mayor wrote before Dicken’s name had
become public.

“This person saved lives tonight. On behalf of the city of
Greenwood, I am grateful for his quick action and heroism in
this situation,” Ison said. “The real hero of the day is the
citizen that was lawfully carrying a firearm in that food court
and was able to stop the shooter almost as soon as he began.”

2. Dicken Praised Firearms as the ‘Only True Badge of Liberty’;
the Shooter Was Armed With a Long Gun & Multiple Magazines,
Police Say

On Facebook, Dicken says he lives in Columbus, Indiana, and went
to CSA New Tech for high school.

In 2014, he shared a picture of an armed military member with a
caption that read, “The reason terrorists can’t sleep at night.
And the reason you can.” However, most of his posts are just
about friends or Call of Duty and Minecraft.

Facebook

He also shared a post that read, “Arms are the only true badge
of liberty.”

In 2013, Dicken also shared a photo of a young girl with a gun
with a caption that reads, “Teach your daughters to shoot,
because a restraining order is just a piece of paper. Share if
you believe women should be able to protect themselves.”

Facebook

He also shared a graphic that reads, “Dear God, why do you allow
so much violence in schools? Signed a concerned student. Dear
concerned student, I’m not allowed in schools. God.”

In 2012, Dicken shared a prayer chain for the students of Sandy
Hook Elementary School.

The weapon used in the mass shooting was a Sig Sauer Model M400
5.56-caliber rifle, Ison said. He also had a Glock pistol “on
his person,” said Ison, but the only weapon Sapirman used was
the Sig Sauer rifle. “He had over 100 rounds of ammunition on
his person and in his possession,” Ison said.

According to Ison, authorities cleared a backpack at the scene,
in the restroom. The gunman had a second rifle, this one inside
it, he said. Authorities had been concerned there was an
explosive device in the backpack but determined there was not
one, he said.

Ison said authorities were shaken to their core.

3. Dicken, Who Has No Police Training or Military Background,
Was Shopping at the Mall With His Girlfriend When the Mass
Shooting Occurred

According to Ison, Dicken, had gone to the mall with his
girlfriend to shop when the mass shooting broke out. He was
wearing shorts and a T-shirt. He approached mall security to
explain he was the person who had shot the gunman, Ison said.

“He has no police training or military background,” Ison said.
He said that Dicken was interviewed by police, but his
statements were confirmed by the surveillance video.

He added that law enforcement officers ran to help after the
shooting, some who weren’t on duty, after the call came in to
police. “We had a lot of self-reporting [law enforcement
officials]. … Everyone runs to help,” Ison said.

Ison said he believed the gunman was in the restroom for so long
because he was preparing.

The tragedy has traumatized the community.

“Today is very tough,” Mayor Myers said in a news conference on
July 18. “I grieve for these senseless killings.”

“This tragedy hits at the core of our community. Please offer
your prayers to the victims and our first responders,” the mayor
wrote in an earlier statement.

4. Dicken Is Being Praised as a Hero on Social Media as Well,
With People Contrasting His Quick Actions to the Inaction in
Uvalde, Texas

Dicken was widely praised as a hero on social media. Some people
compared his quick actions to the inaction by law enforcement
officers when an active shooter murdered children and teachers
May 24 at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

“Every time i think of how many lives Elisjsha Dicken
potentially saved in Greenwood I think of the El paso shooting
which killed nearly 2 dozen people #GreenwoodParkMall,” wrote
one Twitter user.

“The courage and competence of Elisjsha Dicken saved lives.
Bloody well done!” wrote another.

His actions also quickly became part of the gun control debate
in the United States. “#HERO and armed civilian #ElisjshaDicken
shot and killed the shooter at a supposedly “gun free zone”
#GreenwoodMall Indiana yesterday. Imagine the magnitude of this
tragedy if the civilian didn’t neutralize the threat?!” wrote
one person on Twitter.

People also posted on social media as word of the active shooter
initially spread Sunday night. “Has anyone heard there is an
active shooter in greenwood mall right now. Our friends daughter
is locked in the store she works at,” wrote one person.

A man wrote on Facebook, “Shooting at the Greenwood Park Mall.
Active shooter brought a semi automatic weapon into the mall,
came out of the bathroom with it in hand and starting unloading,
killing and injuring civilians.”

One person at the mall wrote, “Active shooter Greenwood(Indiana)
mall, barely made it out through the stampede but thank The Good
Lord above, I did. Didn’t hear any shots but I just saw a
stampede of people scrambling over each other mumbling about a
shooter!!! And I ran like hell in front of the pack and screamed
for everyone else to ‘go they said there’s a shooter!’ My legs
barely made it to the truck I was so scared.'”

5. The Gunman’s Motive Remains Unclear

Ison said on Monday that police have not determined Sapirman’s
motive yet. Ison said that Sapirman, who lived alone, had
visited shooting ranges and may have received an eviction
notice. He left his warehouse job in May, the chief said.

He had a troubled childhood, documented in a battle for custody
between his brother and mother.

The oven was on in Sapirman’s apartment when police entered it,
Ison said. There was a laptop in the oven and can of butane, he
said. It is being analyzed at Quantico because it was damaged
due to heat. He placed his cell phone in a bathroom toilet at
the mall. Authorities also want to analyze that, but it was
damaged by the water.

Police said the motive was still “being sorted out.”

“We’re still putting the pieces together,” Ison said in the news
conference. “I don’t have a motive yet.”

https://heavy.com/news/elisjsha-dicken/

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