Less than three weeks after Indiana’s new constitutional carry law went into effect, an armed bystander shot and killed an assailant suspected of fatally shooting three people and injuring two others in an Indiana mall on Sunday evening.
Reports of a shooting in the Greenwood Park Mall began around 6 p.m. on Sunday when an unnamed gunman opened fire in the food court. After striking at least one male and four females including a 12-year-old girl, the suspected shooter was quickly shot and killed by a bystander who “observed the shooting in progress.”
As of Monday morning, police had not released the identity of the man who shot the gunman, but local news reports indicated he is 22 years old and from the nearby Bartholomew County.
“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,” Greenwood Police Chief Jim Ison told reporters.
"The real hero, is the citizen that was lawfully carrying a firearm."
It's against the @simonmalls code of conduct for anyone to carry a weapon inside the mall, however Greenwood Police are thankful the 22 year old Bartholomew Co. man was @FOX59 https://t.co/BV1lOnZOgM pic.twitter.com/XuWSR26ipF
— Justin Kollar (@kollarjustin) July 18, 2022
Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers also praised the “good Samaritan” for stopping “further bloodshed.”
“This person saved lives tonight,” Myers said in a statement. “On behalf of the City of Greenwood, I am grateful for his quick action and heroism in this situation.”
CNN tried to downplay the “good guy with a gun” by claiming that it is extremely rare for armed citizens to step in. Their article about the shooting dedicated four paragraphs to warning that, according to a New York Times data chart, “having more than one armed person at the scene who is not a member of law enforcement can create confusion and carry dire risks.”
Several local news outlets centered their coverage on the narrative that the man who took down the suspected assailant violated the mall’s no weapons policy.
“Armed ‘Good Samaritan’ stopped Indiana mall shooting, broke mall rules,” WANE 15 reported.
According to Fox 59 out of Indianapolis, the mall owner, Simon Property Group, “states in its code of conduct that no weapons are allowed at their shopping centers.” It isn’t until later in the article that Fox 59 noted, “While the property group has the ability to set policies against weapons, what the man did was not illegal.”
Meanwhile, Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts took a swipe at the good guy with a gun and the Second Amendment, and Kris Brown, president of the anti-gun Brady Campaign, smeared him as a “vigilante.”
Brady president calls armed civilian who stopped yesterday's mall shooting a "vigilante." https://t.co/7gSn3a4sJf
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) July 18, 2022
Under pressure from a wave of primary challengers this spring who made constitutional carry a top critique of Republican incumbents, the GOP-controlled legislature and governor passed a new law earlier this year that no longer requires gun owners to obtain a permit to legally “carry, conceal or transport a handgun within the state.” The law took effect on July 1.
A Houston police sergeant is also being hailed as a hero after he tackled a man armed with a rifle, 120 rounds of ammunition, and a handgun in the Houston Galleria over the weekend.
Source: The Federalist
