Armed 'Hero' stopped the mass shooting at an Indiana mall

 

Armed 'Hero' stopped the mass shooting at an Indiana mall

Police said many more people would have been killed during a mass shooting in Indiana yesterday night had it not been for the "heroic" actions of a bystander who stopped the gunman.

The heavily armed suspect killed three people and wounded two others at a mall near Indianapolis.

Elisha Deakin, 22, who was at the mall with his girlfriend, pulled out his gun and killed the gunman.

The incident reignited the debate in America over gun ownership.

In the latest attack, a suspect opened fire with a rifle in a food court at Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood City.

Police said the gunman was carrying two rifles, a pistol, and more than 100 bullets.

He fired 24 rounds from one of the rifles before he was killed about two minutes after the attack.

Greenwood Police Chief Jim Eason said Monday that Deakin had clashed with the gunman almost since the beginning of the attack.

The police chief said Deakin demonstrated "adept" and "proper" tactics in shooting the "gunman from a distance," despite having no military or law enforcement training.

The police chief said Deakin also signaled other shoppers to run after him "while he was dealing with the suspect and locked up." Fire 10 shots.

Mr. Deakin - who legally carried a concealed handgun - was initially restrained and questioned by police before his version of events was confirmed through CCTV footage.

"A lot of people could have died last night had it not been for a responsibly armed citizen who took rapid action within the first two minutes of shooting," Eason said.

"I will say that his actions were heroic," the police chief added.

The attacker was identified as a 20-year-old local who had recently been evacuated and lost his job in a warehouse.

Two dead were three husbands and wives, and the third was a 30-year-old man. A 22-year-old woman and a 12-year-old girl were infected.

Gun rights advocates have taken the case as an example of law-abiding citizens' importance of gun ownership.

In a tweet Monday morning, the National Rifle Association, a gun lobby, said: "We'll repeat it: The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is the good guy with a gun."

But such results are extraordinary. According to an FBI report in May, only two of 61 such attacks ended last year when armed bystanders engaged the active shooter.

A series of recent mass shootings—including at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and a parade in Highland, Illinois—has reignited the American debate over gun laws.