Police: Greenwood mall shooter fascinated with German Reich, yet ‘no clear motive’ for attack

Just over five months after a 20-year-old opened fire in the food court at Greenwood Park Mall, shooting five people — three fatally — the FBI and the city’s police said an investigation revealed the gunman had a fascination with firearms, mass shootings and the German Reich, but a motive for why it all happened remains unclear.

In an update about the investigation on Wednesday, Greenwood police said searches of the gunman’s social media accounts and interviews with his family and friends uncovered the man’s fascination with mass shootings on Reddit, and using German Reich-related usernames.

Past coverage:Greenwood mall shooter's family says they're shocked by tragedy

Chief James Ison said, however, detectives’ investigation into the man’s internet history showed no communicated plan to carry out a shooting.

“There is no clear motive as to why the shooter committed this crime, or why he chose the time and place to do it,” Ison stated.

Wednesday’s report marks the latest update by the FBI and Greenwood police about the joint law-enforcement investigation into the mall shooting. Police said the shooter brought two rifles, a pistol and more than 100 rounds of ammunition to the mall that day. He’s believed to have entered the food court bathroom just before 5 p.m. and remained there for about an hour. Minutes before 6 p.m., he left the bathroom and fired 24 rounds with a Sig Sauer model M400 5.56 caliber rifle.

The attack ended in about 15 seconds when 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken, a bystander in the mall armed with a 9mm handgun, shot and killed the gunman.

Pedro Piñeda, 56, and his wife Rosa Mirian Rivera de Piñeda, 37, were among those killed. Victor Gomez, 30, was also among the deceased. A 12-year-old girl had a minor back wound and a 22-year-old woman had a leg wound. Both survived.

Two electronics purportedly owned by the gunman, a laptop and cellphone, were recovered by investigators after the shooting. Police found the laptop inside a running oven where the shooter lived, along with a can of butane that exploded. FBI officials in August said the computer was too damaged to retrieve data from it. The shooter’s cellphone, however, remains in FBI custody.

Here are other key takeaways from the latest update by Greenwood police:

More:Here are the victims of the Greenwood Park Mall shooting

Interviews with Greenwood mall shooter's family, friends give police insight

Through interviews with the shooter's peers and family, investigators learned the shooter was born in Columbus, Ohio and lived with his parents until they separated when he was five years old.

The shooter’s life, as described Wednesday, was rife with Child Protective Services reports and bouts of homelessness as a child. From ages 11 to 18 years old, 12 CPS reports were filed that ranged from abuse, neglect, drug use and truancy. The shooter also was in and out of foster care six times.

When he turned 17, the shooter moved in with his older brother at Polo Run Apartments, where he lived until the mass shooting. Ison said his father paid the rent.

This year, the shooter quit his job and began living in the apartment alone when his brother removed his name from the lease. Around the same time, his father cut off financial assistance. In the days leading up to the shooting, the apartment complex notified the shooter that he was to be evicted over lack of payment.

Interviews with the shooter’s family members, high school friends, and ex-girlfriend with investigators described a man who was antisocial, with a “strong” interest in guns and drugs.

An ex-girlfriend told investigators she was not surprised that he carried out the shooting. The couple broke up 18 months prior. Ison said she described him as an unhappy person, with a fascination of Nazi Germany, firearms and drugs. She further said he had been abusive, and stuck a gun in her mouth during an argument.

“He also told her that if he ever killed himself, he would take others with him,” Ison said.

The shooter's social media presence

Investigators searched the shooter’s accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Reddit and 4chan for clues into his motive.

The shooter used Reddit most often, making over 700 comments on the website from 2017 to 2022. Through the abundance of comments, Ison said police did not find any indicating he was planning on carrying out such an attack.

In the hours before the shooting, the gunman posted a photo on 4-chan showing a gun pointed to the back of his head.

The shooter did widely discuss high-profile shootings, Ison said, and often commented that he studied mass killings. Investigators also learned he used Gmail accounts with names including “The dark will rise” and “Greater German Reich.”

The latter email account spoke to the shooter’s “fascination,” as police called it, with World War II and Nazi Germany. Despite that interest, police said, investigators “found nothing” supporting he had antisemitic beliefs or Nazi idealizations.

Ison equated the shooter’s fascination as more like touting knowledge on the subject.

The man credited with stopping the attack

While Wednesday’s update didn't answer all questions raised by the shooting, police said one thing is clear: Elisjsha Dicken, the man who shot and killed the gunman, saved “many, many” lives that night.

Dicken was shopping with his girlfriend, having just eaten dinner, when the shooting unfolded. Ison said video footage depicting the shooting showed many patrons running to the exits. Instantaneously, Ison said, Dicken stood up and fired from about 40 yards away.

"The trajectory of this (mass shooting) was changed by Elisjsha Dicken," Ison said. "We are thankful that he was there."

In a statement to reporters after the police update, Dicken’s attorney, Guy Relford, said his client is hard-working, and wants to avoid the public eye. Relford said he’s represented many people who have taken a life in legally-justified ways, and called it a “traumatic experience.”

“That’s a hard thing to recover from,” Relford said. “Even when you know you were heroic and even when you know you’ve saved lives and even when you are getting the thanks and congratulations from a lot of people.”

Racially motivated?

While his ex-girlfriend told police the shooter was racist toward African-Americans and Hispanics, investigators couldn't definitively determine that as a motive.

Ison said the three people killed in the shooting, all Hispanic, were closest to where the shooter exited the mall bathroom and began firing. The investigation revealed Victor Gomez, who was walking into the restroom, was killed first. Then, the shooter turned the firearm to the closest table in the food court, where the Piñeda's were seated.

Through his ophthalmology records, investigators further learned the shooter was extremely near-sighted.

Prior law enforcement tip

In 2019, the FBI Office in Baltimore, Maryland, received an anonymous tip that someone online with the username “Greater German Reich” had posted on a subreddit threat about wanting to learn more about mass killings, and idolizing the killers.

The FBI at the time traced the IP address of the post to Indianapolis. The public IP address couldn’t be traced from there, as the user had been assigned to free apartment Wi-Fi.

The investigation into the “Greater German Reich” tip closed March 30, 2020. Ison said no additional complaints or reports were made about that email address.

Cellphone could hold clue to motive

The shooter’s cellphone remains in FBI custody. Police found the phone inside a toilet in the mall’s food court. Ison on Wednesday said the phone is password-protected, significantly slowing the process of getting into the device. He added there are “a million” possibilities for the password and the FBI lab has the phone hooked up to software that runs every possible combination for the six-digit code.

Police said it could take years before detectives are able to unlock the phone.

"Really the only thing on that phone that is of real interest is if he had any pictures or videos, or what we're hoping is maybe he took a video explaining a motive," Ison said.

If or when detectives unlock the phone, Ison said, police will provide an update.

Contact Sarah Nelson at 317-503-7514 or sarah.nelson@indystar.com

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Greenwood Mall gunman fascinated with German Reich, yet ‘no clear motive’