‘Good Samaritan’ Who Saved Indiana Mall Goers Is Denounced as No Hero – Opinion

How do you define a hero? Consider a Good Samaritan. These questions can be contentious.

And a Sunday incident has some insisting a brave bystander shouldn’t be celebrated.

One man shot at the Greenwood Park Mall near Indianapolis. Deseret News reports that Johnathan Sapirman (20 years old) fired off 24 shots.

Three people were tragically killed: Victor Gomez (aged 30), Rosa Rivera de Pineda de Pineda (37), and Pedro Pineda (56). Another two were wounded: a female victim aged 20 was struck in the leg and another 12-year-old minorly injured by a deflected shot.

Sapirman entered the mall and immediately went to the restroom. He stayed there over an hour, before finally leaving the area and lighting the fire.

“The most puzzling piece…was the amount of time that he was in the bathroom,” [Chief James Ison] said. “We believe he was getting ready.”

But the man’s plans were thwarted because more than bad guys carry guns. Elisjsha Dicken, 22, stopped the mass shooter’s spree.

Footage…showed that Dicken shot 10 rounds from his handgun, while motioning for citizens at the mall to exit behind him.

Chief James has praised Elisjsha’s intervention:

“Many more people would have died last night if a responsible, armed citizen hadn’t been present…”

On Sunday, Elisjsha was compared to a biblical character by the chief. He did so again Monday:

“The shooter was confronted by our Good Samaritan. … The Good Samaritan was armed with a pistol and engaged the shooter as he stood outside the restroom area firing into the food court. [Elisjsha]Numerous rounds were fired, and the suspect was struck. The suspect tried to hide in the bathroom, but was unsuccessful. [but] fell to the ground after being shot.”

That sounds like something you would be proud to call a hero. It doesn’t to a Bloomington traffic anchor. Murrow Award-winning journalist Justin Kollar was flabbergasted by the chief’s framing. In a Twitter, he expressed his shock at the chief’s framing.

“The term ‘Good Samaritan’ came from a Bible passage of a man from Samaria who stopped on the side of the road to help a man… I cannot believe we live in a world where the term can equally apply to someone *killing* someone… my God.”

He was not impressed by Elisjsha’s heat packing.

“It’s against the @simonmalls code of conduct for anyone to carry a weapon inside the mall. However, Greenwood Police are thankful the…man was.”

One user was in agreement with another online. One user offered, “What you have is two gunmen — one of whom obeyed the law for a little longer than the mass shooter.”

Additional remarks

  • [A]sk yourself if you really want your mall experience to be like the wild…west.”
  • WhyHe brought a gun to buy, but he was not allowed in any gun-free zones. It’s not so bad by definition. What if he was there to shoot people?”
  • I am horrified to see that term used in this context.”

So goes America’s divide over guns. For many advocates, if a firearm is used to do evil, it’s apparently the fault of the weapon. If a firearm is used to prevent the crime, however, this weapon does not get any points. It does not award points to the rightful owner.

A perpetrator might be more accepted than the victim at present (Language Warning).

 

Concerning the Good Samaritan issue, it was to be praised because it saved lives.

Is Elisjsha capable of doing the same thing many times? You can decide for yourself:

  • A Sig Sauer 400M.556 caliber rifle was used by the shooter.
  • He had a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 .556 on reserve in the restroom.
  • His personal gun was a Glock 33.357 pistol.
  • His arsenal included over 100 cartridges.
  • He’d been frequently practicing at a range for the past two years.
  • In May, he had quit his job as a warehouse worker.
  • Police were told by family they believe he’d received a notice of eviction.

This sounds like someone who has come to destroy the world.

Thanks to Elisjsha Dicken — whatever anyone may call him — that mission was swiftly forced to fail.

-ALEX

 

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