Now, anyone aged 18 or older who is not legally prohibited from firearm possession may generally carry a concealed handgun in public. The shooting comes weeks after the repeal of an Indiana handgun permit requirement. The Greenwood incident also raised questions regarding the interaction between state law and the rights of private entities to ban weapons on their properties. It is rare for a bystander to stop an "active shooter" attack in the United States, 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. "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 Monday morning. Gun rights advocates seized on the latest shooting as an example of why it is important to allow Americans to carry firearms. STATE LAWS IN FOCUSĪ spate of gun violence in public places since May, including mass shootings at a grocery store in Upstate New York, a Texas elementary school and a suburban Illinois Independence Day parade, has renewed a fierce U.S. Two other people were wounded, Ison said. Of the three people killed, two were a husband and wife, age 56 and 37, respectively.
He had frequented a local shooting range for target practice over the past two years. Ison said the suspect had two rifles he had purchased 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 did not drive and was believed to have walked to the mall on Sunday, the chief said. Ison said Sapirman lacked any previous criminal history, except for a juvenile record including a fight at school and a runaway incident. 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.
"Many more people would've died last night if not for a responsible armed citizen that took action very quickly within the first two minutes of the shooting," Ison said. Beforehand, 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.ĭicken 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, according to Ison. The shooting lasted just two minutes from the time the suspect opened fire until he was killed. "As he engaged and closed in on the suspect," Dicken motioned for others in the vicinity to exit behind him, the chief said, adding that Dicken afterward turned himself over to mall security personnel and cooperated with police.
Dicken now needed "space and time to process what he's gone through," the chief said in an appeal for restraint by the media.Īlthough he lacked any law enforcement or military training, Dicken exhibited "proficient" and "tactically sound" moves in firing at "the gunman with a handgun from quite a distance," Ison told reporters. Greenwood Police Chief Jim Ison credited Dicken, who was at the shopping mall with his girlfriend on Sunday night, as a hero whose bravery and competence prevented further bloodshed.
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