Armed bystander 'prevented more bloodshed' in Indiana shooting

GREENWOOD (Indiana) • A gunman who killed three people in a shopping mall near Indianapolis would likely have taken many more lives if not for the "heroic" actions of an armed bystander who shot the suspect dead and stopped the attack, police have said.

Mr Elisjsha Dicken, 22, who was lawfully carrying a concealed pistol at the time, "engaged" the suspect on Sunday almost as soon as he opened fire with a rifle in a food court at Greenwood Park Mall in Indiana, the authorities said.

Police said they did not know the motive behind the shooting.

Mr Dicken immediately became a cause celebre for gun rights advocates, who argue - despite government statistics to the contrary - that armed civilians are the best defence against the kinds of random mass shootings that killed more than 100 people in the United States last year.

Greenwood Police chief Jim Ison on Monday credited Mr Dicken, who was at the mall with his girlfriend on Sunday night, as a hero whose bravery and competence prevented further bloodshed.

Although he lacked any law enforcement or military training, he exhibited "proficient" and "tactically sound" moves in firing at "the gunman with a handgun from quite a distance," Mr Ison said.

The chief said that "as he engaged and closed in on the suspect", Mr Dicken motioned for others to exit behind him, adding that Mr Dicken later turned himself over to mall security personnel and cooperated with police.

The shooting lasted just two minutes from the time the suspect opened fire until he was killed.

Before that, the gunman had spent more than an hour in a mall restroom, apparently preparing for the attack and putting together the murder weapon he carried disassembled in a bag, the chief said.

Mr Dicken was initially handcuffed and his gun was confiscated before he was taken for questioning to the police department, where his account was verified by video footage, Mr Ison said.

He added: "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 the shooting."

The gunman was identified as Jonathan Douglas Sapirman, 20, a local resident who had lived alone, quit his warehouse job in May and had recently been evicted, the chief said.

Mr Ison said Sapirman did not have any previous criminal history, except for a juvenile record that included a fight at school and a runaway incident. He did not drive and was believed to have walked to the mall on Sunday.

The police chief also said the suspect had two rifles he had bought in March and a handgun with several magazines of ammunition and over 100 rounds of bullets, and that he fired about 24 rounds from one of the rifles. He had also frequented a shooting range for target practice in the past two years.

Of the three people killed, two were a husband and wife, aged 56 and 37, respectively. The third was a 30-year-old man. Two other people were wounded, Mr Ison said.

Gun rights advocates seized on the latest shooting as an example of why it is important to allow Americans to carry firearms.

"We will say it again: The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," the National Rifle Association said in a tweet on Monday morning.

It is rare for a bystander to stop an "active shooter" attack in the US, according to an FBI report in May, showing that only two out of 61 such attacks last year ended when "citizens engaged the shooter". A similar New York Times analysis found that only 22 gunmen in the 433 mass shootings since 2000 were shot by a bystander.

REUTERS