Greenwood Park Mall Shooting Lawsuit Heads to Court of Appeals for Hearing

The Indiana Court of Appeals has heard arguments in a lawsuit filed against Simon Property Group, the owner of Greenwood Park Mall, regarding a mass shooting that occurred at the mall.

Lawyers for Simon and the security company argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed, citing that mass shootings are not "normal" and therefore there is no duty to guarantee safety on their property.

"A mass shooting in a mall is not normal and for that reason there is no duty."

Mike Limrick, representing Simon, further argued that the lawsuit should be considered a liability case rather than a negligence case.

The lawsuit was filed by the Stewart family on behalf of their daughter, Kaya, who survived being shot multiple times by gunman Jonathan Sapirman. Three others died in the shooting, and Sapirman was killed by a bystander in the mall food court.

"Victims of the family have a right to say, 'Okay, what happened? What did you know and why?'"

Gabriel Hawkins, representing the Stewart family, stated that there are three main questions he would like answered: what security cameras show, how nobody flagged Sapirman's "long, black bag," and why nobody noticed him assembling his weapon in the bathroom for over an hour.

"If someone connected with the mall goes into the bathroom and sees someone assembling ... in in the stall with firearms assembling them at that point, there's certainly the argument that there would be an immediate duty to say 'Okay we got a problem, I need to alert some people and take reasonable conduct'."

The families of Pedro Pineda, Rosa Pineda, and Victor Gomez, who were killed in the shooting, are also suing Simon.