GREENWOOD, Ind. (WXIN) — From people heading to the mall for back-to-school shopping to workers going about their day, Sunday appeared to be normal at Indiana’s Greenwood Park Mall. That is until a shooting that would claim the lives of three victims and the shooter and injure two others.
Mark Tillberry was sitting in the food court when he looked out the window to see two people fighting in an incident not connected with the shooting. His group grabbed their food and walked around the corner.
Mark Wright, who works at Luca Pizza, was taking money back for the end of the day. Heather Arthur was eating with her daughters after back-to-school shopping.
Then the shots rang out.
“As soon as we heard shots start popping off — there was at least 25-30 — my guys all hit the deck,” said Wright.
Tillberry described the scene as chaotic. After the gunshots started, everyone just started running.
“It was chaos. It was like an animal kingdom in there. We just ran out of the doors at every exit,” said Tillberry. “We had people going into locked gates, putting them in the back of the stores.”
Heather Arthur told her kids to run.
“My mom, she tells me to get up and start running,” said Mckaya Arthur. “So, I get up, I run. Then, I found a safe area to hide.”
While running to safety, Heather Arthur said she fell, skinning her knee and losing track of two of her children.
Police say the suspect shot into the mall, killing three people and injuring two more. Then a 22-year-old from Bartholomew County, Indiana, shot the shooter.
Wright said while he didn’t see the actual shooting, he witnessed the aftermath.
“It was a scary situation, I’ve got some new kids working, and they were kinda traumatized by it. I never expected this here at this mall,” said Wright, who has been in the pizza business for 32 years.
Heather Arthur said she worries about safety these days.
“It worries you about going anywhere now. I mean there’s violence everywhere you turn and look around, it feels like you’re not safe anywhere,” she said.