GREENWOOD, Ind. (FOX59) — Police are providing a look into what happened leading up to, and during a shooting at the Greenwood Park Mall that claimed the lives of three victims and injuring two more.
During a news briefing Monday, police said the shooting suspect, 20-year-old Jonathan Sapirman, entered the mall and spent over an hour in the restroom before coming out shooting. Elisjsha Dicken, an armed citizen at the mall, shot and killed Sapirman.
FOX59 has compiled a timeline of what happened ahead of the shooting.
Juvenile record
Police confirmed Monday that Sapirman has a juvenile record. However, he has no criminal history as an adult.
Sapirman’s past incidents with the Greenwood Police Department include minor offenses such as a fight at school and being a juvenile runaway.
Sources close to the probe of the weekend’s mass killing told Fox 59 News that investigators have unearthed few clues as to the background and the motive of the gunman.
Our own investigation has revealed that Sapirman’s family was estranged and he was the subject of a Guardianship battle between his older brother and mother in 2018 which included five counts of alleged child abuse or neglect.
We traced Sapirman’s mother to an apartment in Beech Grove where a woman angrily shut the door and refused comment.
Target practice
Family members told police that Sapirman had been practicing shooting at a local shooting range, Range USA. The ATF contacted the company, which provided records showing he was frequently using their range and purchasing ammunition at the location for the last two years.
In March, police say Sapirman bought two weapons. On March 8, police say Sapirman purchased a Sig Sauer model 400M 5.56 caliber rife in Greenwood. The next day, he purchased an M&P 15 5.56 in Greenwood.
Range USA, a gun store and firing range in Greenwood, was served with a subpoena by investigators to seize records related to Sapirman’s visits. The company did not return a request for comment.
Resignation and Eviction
In May, police say Sapirman resigned from a warehouse position. They have yet to confirm the location where he was working.
Police are also looking into if Sapirman was being evicted from his apartment. Family members told police that they believe he had received an eviction notice.
The mall shooting
Police believe Sapirman walked to the mall on Sunday, as he does not drive.
When he arrived at the Greenwood Park Mall, Sapirman entered through the doors closest to the food court. He immediately made his way to the restroom.
Police do not know what Sapirman was doing while he was in the restroom, but after the shooting, they found a phone that belonged to Sapirman in a toilet. Police believe he put it there before leaving the restroom to begin his shooting spree.
A little over an hour after Sapirman went into the restroom, he went to the food court and shot Victor Gomez outside of the restroom. He then pointed his rifle into the food court where Pedro and Rosa Pinedo were eating dinner, shooting both.
Sapirman continued to fire several rounds into the food court, hitting a 22-year-old woman who is recovering from a leg wound. Police say a bullet fragment is believed to have ricocheted off a wall, hitting a 12-year-old girl who was running towards the exit.
Good Samaritan steps in
Just one minute after Sapirman started his shooting spree, police say 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken from Columbus confronted the shooter.
Dicken fired 10 rounds, hitting Sapirman as he tried to retreat into the restroom. Sapirman fell to the ground after being shot.
Police say it was only 15 seconds from by the time the first shot was fired until he was neutralized by Dicken.
Police begin investigation
When police started the investigation, they said they found a waistband holster on Sapirman with several magazines. He also had a Glock 33, .357 caliber pistol.
Inside the restroom where Sapirmen spent the hour, police say they found a backpack with another rifle and more ammunition. In total, police said he had more than 100 rounds of ammunition.
Neighbors in the apartment complex where Sapirman lived say police raided his apartment between midnight and 3 a.m. Tuesday.
When the SWAT team went into the apartment, police say the oven was at a high temperature. Inside the oven was a laptop and a can of butane.
Police did not want to speculate what Sapirman’s intentions were. They retrieved the laptop and sent it to be analyzed,
Police are trying to recover data from Sapirman’s phone and computer. A timeline for if or when they can has not been established.
While police have yet to establish a motive, they are investigating social media profiles that may have belonged to Sapirman.
FOX59 has uncovered a photo shared on a social media website that appears to show weapons matching the description of those that Sapirman had on his possession during the shooting.
While police have not confirmed the weapons in the photo were Sapirman’s, gun experts confirm they match the description as the weapons Sapirman had.
Investigators also have those posts showing Sapirman wearing a partial facial mask as he was during the attack. Other photographs show Sapirman pointing the gun at himself and images of a Nazi wedding ceremony from World War II and also an ominous message posted Sunday afternoon less than four hours before the killings.
An attorney who has represented Justin Sapirman told Fox 59 News that his younger brother’s murder spree at the mall, “shocked the family as much as anyone else.”
Elizabeth Marie Smith also said that the elder brother, “was pretty upset…he never saw this coming,” and that he was grieving over, “losing his family member.”
FOX59 is continuing to follow the investigation. We will provide updates as they become available.
Russ McQuaid contributed to this report.
