GREENWOOD, Ind. — Officials in Indiana released the names Monday of the three victims and the suspected gunman who was killed in a shooting Sunday at the Greenwood Park Mall.

The Johnson County and Marion County coroners’ offices said the victims were identified as married Indianapolis couple Pedro Pineda, 56, and Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda, 37 - and Victor Gomez, 30, of Indianapolis, WRTV reported.

WRTV reported that the suspected shooter was identified as Jonathan Douglas Sapirman, 20, of Greenwood.

At a press conference Monday, Greenwood Police Chief James Ison said Sapirman spent about an hour in the bathroom before he came out and began shooting.

Investigators said they believe Sapirman spent the time in the bathroom putting together a rifle he brought in a backpack.

Sapirman fired 24 rounds within two minutes, officials said, the Associated Press reported.

No none motive has been released, but the suspect's relatives told investigators that the apartment complex he lived at had recently served him an eviction notice.

On Monday, Ison said Sapirman continued to shoot until he was shot and killed by 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken.

Initially, authorities told WRTV that Dicken was legally armed, but according to the Associated Press, weapons are prohibited from being carried on its property.

Two other people, a woman and a 12-year-old girl, suffered injuries in the shooting, the news outlet reported.

Police say the child suffered minor injuries and was transported to the hospital, WRTV reported.

The woman was taken to the hospital from the scene, but her condition wasn't immediately known, police said.

An FBI spokesperson confirmed to WRTV that its teams assisted local police in the shooting investigation and served a search warrant afterward at Polo Run Apartments.

According to WRTV, the Johnson County bomb squad was called to the mall after an abandoned backpack was located inside the mall. Police later said the bag was cleared and deemed not to be a threat.

A spokeswoman representing Simon Property Group, the Greenwood Park Mall's parent company, confirmed to WRTV that the mall would be closed Monday.

A reopening date will be announced later.

"We grieve for the victims of yesterday’s horrific tragedy in Greenwood," a statement shared on the company's behalf said. "Violence has no place in this or any other community. We are grateful for the strong response of the first responders, including the heroic actions of the Good Samaritan who stopped the suspect."

INDIANAPOLIS — After the dedication that led to finding missing Ohio 5-month-old Kason Thomass, IMPD Officers Sgt. Shawn Anderson and Sgt. Richard El are reflecting on the moments after his discovery and what it meant for them.

"First thing that went through my mind was thank God we found baby Kason. He is alive and well and my first instinct was I wanted to hold him, put my arms around him and just make sure he was ok," said IMPD Sgt. Shawn Anderson.

Pictures of Sgt. Anderson holding Kason have gone viral and many are thankful the baby is safe.

Sgt. Anderson told WRTV, that this is a moment he will never forget.

"I could tell he felt comfort and joy he felt safe and secure in that moment. In spite of the ordeal, he had been through, so I was amazed at how well he was doing for the amount of time he was gone and holding him was one of the best feelings I have had in my career. It just really felt like holding one of my own children," said Sgt. Anderson.

Sgt. Richard El was the first on the scene.

"I picked him up and held him ... 'You are safe now, we got you. We are going to get you back to your parents.' He was still in a onesie and it just gave me memories of my kids being young and whatnot. So I gave him a hug and held him and bounced him around a little bit and let him know he everything would ne alright and that he would soon be reunited with his family," said Sgt. El.

Kason's family tells WRTV he is still in the hospital waiting to be discharged. The family is thankful to be able to spend Christmas with both boys.

"I couldn’t imagine what the parents and grandparents of baby Kason were going through over the past handful of days. The rollercoaster of emotions for us to be a part of that and bringing him home safely and reuniting him safely it really feels amazing," said Richard El.

INDIANAPOLIS — Sometimes, there is a vase just calling your name.

Volunteer Jen Schiff grabs a donated vase off a shelf of hundreds inside a Broad Ripple shop.

Schiff is not a professional florist, but she's been volunteering her time over the past few years with an organization called Random Acts of Flowers Indianapolis.

As she picks the perfect stems out of buckets and buckets of blooms, she tells me, "There are so many pretty flowers here, it's pretty easy to make a nice arrangement."

Schiff is one of the 400 volunteers who help get flowers in the hands of patients across Indianapolis. The organization celebrates five years in operation in Indianapolis this month.

Lindsay Potter is the program director who helps take donated flowers from partners like local florists, wholesalers, and grocery stores.

They collect the flowers that still have life in them but are no longer used after events or on shelves. Those flowers are sorted and stored at their Broad Ripple facility. Volunteers come to make the arrangements.

"That's probably the most fun part," says Potter. "The energy of our volunteers."

After the arrangements are complete, volunteers add a note for the recipient, and the flowers are loaded in the truck to be delivered to health care facilities across the community.

The flowers are surprise delivered to people seeking medical care or in nursing home facilities.

"The surprise when you knock on the door and they are expecting one thing, and you have this beautiful surprise for them, and it's a gesture from the entire community to say, ya know, you are not alone in this," says Potter. "Sometimes there are tears, you know, sometimes there's a little bit of confusion at first, but being able to make those human connections is something we don't necessarily get a whole lot of these days."

Potter says the pandemic has been incredibly isolating for people in health care facilities receiving care, and the flowers are just one gesture to show them someone cares.

The organization was founded originally by a gentleman in a hospital who noticed many patients never got visitors or deliveries, so this gentleman started donating flowers himself, and it grew to several cities.

The concept works and meets a need to recycle floral waste helpfully and make people smile.

And when they say floral waste, they mean gorgeous flowers that have days left of blooms.

"All of our volunteers, especially the first couple times they come in, are just shocked by the quality of the flowers," says Potter.

It is a team effort to get this "Random Act of Flowers" delivered to people in our community.

"We have people who do everything for us from picking up flowers from a grocery store, washing vases, doing vase drives, but also people working with the flowers, and we have people who are florists who have been working for their entire lives and we have people who have no experience whatsoever," says Potter.

As volunteer Schiff makes the arrangements, she puts a lot of thought into who may receive them.

"When you these together, you sometimes think about, I wonder whose going to receive this," says Schiff. "And who doesn't like to get flowers."

Random Acts of Flowers has delivered more than 90,000 floral arrangements to people in our community in just five years. And they are still going strong and always looking for more volunteers to sign up for a shift and help.

If you would like to learn more about how to help, visit RAFindy.org.

Lauren Casey at WRTV first reported this story.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Five weeks ago, the Baltimore Ravens figured they’d have to win out and get some help to reach the playoffs.

After tending to their own part of the equation with four straight victories and receiving the necessary assistance last weekend in the form of losses by Cleveland and Indianapolis, all that remains for the Ravens (10-5) is one more item of business: defeat Cincinnati in the regular-season finale this Sunday.

MORE: About 10,000 fans allowed at PBS for Bengals' season finale

Getting into the postseason for the third year in a row is what’s important. Who they play if they get there is irrelevant.

“All we can focus on is the next game. Not focus on the playoffs,” Ravens tight end Mark Andrews said. “We’re just trying to get better and win this game, and the cards will fall how they fall.”

Baltimore was 5-1 before a skid that coincided with an outbreak of COVID-19 at its training facility sent the season off the rails. Four losses in five games — including three in a row before the current hot streak — can be forgotten with a victory at Cincinnati (4-10-1).

Ravens star Lamar Jackson needs 92 yards rushing to become the first quarterback in NFL history with two 1,000-yard seasons. At this juncture in the season, personal accomplishments are meaningless to the league’s reigning MVP.

“Being honest, I just want to win Sunday and come out of the game healthy,” Jackson said. “It doesn’t really matter about any records being broken, or anything like that. I just want to win to get in the playoffs.”

The Ravens have won their past three games against Cincinnati, their longtime AFC North foe. Baltimore beat the Bengals 27-3 in October before Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow’s season ended with a knee injury that brought about the emergence of Brandon Allen, who shredded Houston last week by going 29 for 37 for 371 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Cincinnati has nothing to gain except being the spoiler and ending a difficult season with a three-game winning streak.

After the Bengals went on the road to defeat the Texans 37-31, coach Zac Taylor said, “We’re out of the playoff hunt. It’s easy for guys to check out right now, and we haven’t had a single player do it. Just proud to coach these guys.”

MAINTAINING FOCUS

Following a 19-14 loss in Pittsburgh in which Jackson was sidelined with the coronavirus, Baltimore stood at 6-5 and in third place in the division. Ravens coach John Harbaugh kept spirits up with a calming directive that set the course for the rest of the season.

“I feel that coach did a great job during that time,” safety Chuck Clark said. “We were all at home on Zoom waiting for the next thing. What would be next? What’s the message? Where are we going from here? Coach did a good job of keeping us all grounded, knowing that we would all eventually overcome the situations that we had, and be able to get back out there and go win football games to be able to put ourselves in position.”

ROOKIE SENSATION

Bengals receiver Tee Higgins is on the cusp of setting a team rookie record.

Higgins has 67 catches, tied with Cris Collinsworth for most by a Bengals rookie. He was selected out of Clemson with the first pick in the second round of this year’s draft.

ROOKIE SENSATION II

Ravens rookie J.K. Dobbins has displaced Mark Ingram as the starting running back and is part of a three-tiered threat for a team that counts heavily on the run.

Jackson leads the way with 908 yards rushing, Gus Edwards has 663 and Dobbins checks in with 645 after being used sparingly early in the season.

Dobbins, a former star at Ohio State, has seven touchdowns, one in each of the past five games.

“As soon as they drafted me, my thought process was, ‘Let’s go in here, let’s get better, and I’m going to find a way to get on this field and help this team win as many games as possible — get us to a Super Bowl, if that’s possible,’” he said. “And that’s just what I’ve been doing.”

HUMBLE BUT CONFIDENT

Allen is 1-3 as a starter this year, so he wasn’t about to proclaim himself a star after tearing apart Houston’s defense last weekend.

“I’ve had a couple bad games too,” Allen said. “So I’ll take this with a grain of salt and just keep trying to get better. But I always wake up on game day with the confidence that we’re going to make all the plays we need to to win the game. And I always kind of feel like I’m going to make all the throws that I need to.”

He will tested by a Baltimore defense that has had 11 sacks in the past two games.

CINCINNATI — Greater Cincinnati’s population increased 5.6% in the last 10 years to more than 2.25 million, according to 2020 Census data released Thursday.

That’s faster growth than Akron, Cleveland and Dayton but slower than Columbus, Indianapolis and Louisville.

The 2020 Census, which represents a snapshot of the U.S. population as of April 1, 2020, takes on added importance this year.

That’s because the official count at the end of each decade is used to apportion seats in Congress, government funding and rank regional rivals. Growing cities often tout their population gains in marketing campaigns, while shrinking towns use the numbers as a call to action.

To that end, Cincinnati has some positive numbers to share. It’s the 30th largest Metropolitan Statistical Area, ranking ahead of Columbus, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Nashville, all cities against which it competes for jobs and corporate investments. Also, for the first time in 70 years, it has a growing urban core. Census data show the city of Cincinnati grew 4.2%, to 309,317, since 2010.

But Greater Cincinnati lags some of its regional peers in the number of fast-growing counties. Only Boone and Warren counties had growth rates above 10% since 2010. The Indianapolis metro has five such counties, while Columbus has three.

While the numbers are important for economic development reasons, they are a crucial ingredient for state redistricting committees, which revise legislative districts at the state and federal level every 10 years.

It will be a hotly contested process in Ohio this year because the Buckeye State will lose one Congressional seat and Republicans need only five seats nationwide to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The redistricting challenge is greater this year because the Census data is being released much later than in prior years, said Michael Finney, chief financial officer of the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service at Ohio University.

It has a state contract to create data maps that the Ohio Redistricting Commission uses to compare how boundary changes impact the number of voters in every legislative district. The data provides block-level head counts that include age and race information.

Finney said it will take about two weeks for Ohio University to finalize its data maps. Members of the redistricting commission will combine that data with voting records and other information to decide which boundaries the political boundaries should be.

“This year, given the fact that the release of the data is so late, it’s going to put a lot of pressure on the map makers,” Finney said, “to make their maps and meet the deadlines that are in the Ohio constitution.”

The redistricting commission faces a Sept. 1 deadline to draw new districts for Ohio politicians, while the deadline for Congressional districts is Sept. 30.

The Census Bureau has been criticized for delays and questioned about the accuracy of the 2020 Census. Last week, the bureau announced it would delay the release of its American Community Survey, which includes more information about poverty, housing and demographics, because it didn’t have big enough samples in all geographies.

But Finney said the data released Thursday has everything Ohio University needs to complete its data maps.

“I’m not concerned about the accuracy,” Finney said. “It’s the data that we use every 10 years. It is the 100% count from the Census Bureau … This is the data that the Ohio constitution requires.”

INDIANAPOLIS —

An Indianapolis man suspected of killing three adults and a child told police he fatally shot the four victims after he and his girlfriend argued because he wanted a share of her federal COVID-19 relief money, according to a court document and one of the girlfriend's relatives.

Malik Halfacre, 25, was being held Tuesday at the Marion County Jail on four preliminary counts of murder and one count each of attempted murder and robbery. He has not yet been formally charged in Saturday's shootings, which police have said occurred following a heated argument in a home where officers found the bodies of Anthony Johnson, 35, Dequan Moore, 23, Tomeeka Brown, 44, and 7-year-old Eve Moore. Halfacre's girlfriend was critically wounded.

A probable cause affidavit filed Monday in Marion County Superior Court reveals more details about the argument. It says that Halfacre told officers following his arrest Sunday evening that he and his girlfriend — identified only as "J.M." — "were arguing because he wanted some of her stimulus check."

"Mr. Halfacre admitted to shooting all of the deceased individuals in the house. He also said that after everyone was shot, he took the money, J.M.'s purse, and her car and left the scene," with his 6-month-old daughter, according to the affidavit.

The baby was later found unharmed at the home of Halfacre's sister, according to the affidavit.

Wendy Johnson, a cousin of Halfacre's girlfriend, told WXIN-TV that the day before the shootings Halfacre demanded half of his girlfriend's $1,400 pandemic stimulus check, but her cousin refused.

"She had just got her money, and he wanted half of her money," she told the station, citing what her cousin had said after the encounter. "She said, 'No, you don't deserve any of this. I work. I take care of our child. You don't do anything.'"

Johnson said her cousin had offered Halfacre $450 of her stimulus check but that he replied, "I'm gonna get that money."

Halfacre's sister told officers that when her brother came to her home and dropped off the baby, he also "admitted to killing four people and told her details about how it happened," the affidavit states.

Officers later found Halfacre in the attic of a friend's home about 4.5 miles from the shooting scene, police said.

The Marion County Prosecutor's Office is still investigating and does not expect to make a charging decision before Thursday, according to spokeswoman Destiny Burgos.

INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) — A Marion County, Indiana, judge says the state must continue its participation in the CARES Act supplemental unemployment benefits.

In May, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb announced the state would stop providing federal COVID-19 unemployment benefits, citing the number of businesses looking for new employees.

A judge ruled, in response to a lawsuit was filed by Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis on June 14, the benefits must continue until the court makes a final decision.

In May, Holcomb announced the following programs would end:

• Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), which provides a $300 weekly add-on to recipients of unemployment insurance.

• Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), which provides recipients extended benefits after their traditional 26 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits have been exhausted.
• Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which provides benefits to people who do not normally qualify for unemployment benefits, such as self-employed, gig workers, and independent contractors.
• Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation (MEUC), which provides a $100 additional weekly benefit for people who are eligible for regular unemployment benefits but also earned at least $5,000 in self-employment income.

In response, a statement from the Office of Gov. Holcomb said Holcomb and the Department of Workforce Development will "discuss an immediate appeal of the judge’s order with the Attorney General."

You can read the full statement below.

Co-counselors Jennifer Terry and Jeffrey Macey released the following statement after the judge's ruling:

Drew Anderson, spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party, released the following statement:

WRTV has reached out to the Department of Workforce Development by email for a statement and is still awaiting a response.

You can read the judge's conclusions below:

This story originally reported by Andrew Smith and Brittany Menendez with additional reporting from Megan Sanctorum and Daniel Bradley on WRTV.com.

Samaria Blackwell dreamed of being a police officer.

John Weisert would have celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary in the fall.

Amarjit Sekhon and Jasvinder Kaur were the backbones of their families and members of Indianapolis' close-knit Sikh community.

Instead of coming home from a normal shift at a FedEx shipping facility in Indianapolis, they and four of their coworkers are being remembered by friends and family as the victims of another mass shooting in the United States.

The victims range in age from 19 to 74, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

Their names are: Matthew R. Alexander, 32; Blackwell, 19; Amarjeet Johal, 66; Kaur, 50; Sekhon, 48; Jaswinder Singh, 68; Karli Smith, 19; and Weisert, 74.

Here is what we know about them:

Samaria Blackwell

Samaria Blackwell was the youngest of four children and looked up to her older siblings Elijah, Levi and Michaiah, her parents Jeff and Tammi Blackwell said in a statement.

"We were blessed by the Lord to have such a fun-loving, caring daughter as the baby of our family," they wrote.

Blackwell played basketball and soccer and had "a tough game face" that "quickly turned to a smile outside of competition," they said.

She was a straight-A student who graduated from high school last year and her parents described their daughter as "tenacious in everything she did."

Blackwell dreamed of being a police officer because she wanted to help people, her parents said.

"Although that dream has been cut short, we believe that right now she is rejoicing in heaven with her Savior," they wrote.

Amarjit Sekhon

Amarjit Sekhon immigrated to the United States in 2004 and moved to Indianapolis in 2019 to be closer to her family, according to Rimpi Girn, a close family friend, who thought of Sekhon as an aunt.

Girn told CNN that Sekhon had been working at the FedEx facility since November on the 11 p.m. to 11 a.m. shift.

Sekhon is survived by her husband and two sons, ages 13 and 19.

"It's hard when your mom went to work and she's not coming back tomorrow," Girn said about Sekhon's sons.

Girn described Sekhon as "a workaholic and active person" and said their "whole household ran on her."

Jasvinder Kaur

Jasvinder Kaur has two children — a daughter and a son, who still lives in India — and is the family's sole breadwinner, according to Girn. Kaur's daughter is Girn's sister-in-law.

Kaur also worked the 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. shift and rode to work with Sekhon because she didn't have her driver's license yet, Girn said.

Both women were hoping to find jobs on the day shift, so they wouldn't have to work overnights, Girn said.

Kaur came to the United States in 2018 and would send money to support her son in India.

The family is trying to get a visa for Kaur's son, so he can travel to the U.S. for her funeral "and pay his last respects," Girn said.

Karli Smith

Karli Smith graduated in 2020 from George Washington High School, where she was remembered as "a hardworking and dedicated student," according to a statement from Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS).

She also attended Crispus Attucks High School, where she played on the softball team. The district said she played basketball and volleyball in middle school.

"Administrators, teachers and classmates remember Karli for her sense of humor that often generated smiles and laughter. Karli was a bright light wherever she went. She will be dearly missed by all throughout IPS who knew and loved her," the statement said.

John Weisert

John Weisert was a retired engineer and was working at the FedEx facility to make some extra money, his wife told CNN affiliate WTHR on Friday, while she waited for news about her husband.

She told WTHR that she knew something was wrong when her husband didn't come home at his regular time.

"I thought maybe he had an accident or run off the road or anything, cause he's older. And they said, 'No, it's worse than that. There was a mass shooting,'" she told WTHR.

Weisert had worked at the FedEx facility for about four-and-a-half years, WTHR reported.

"He's just a package handler, a retired professional engineer, but after retirement he wanted to keep working. We had some things we needed to pay off, so he took this job," Weiser told WTHR.

The couple was set to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in the fall.

Matthew Alexander

Those who knew Matthew Alexander described the 32-year-old as a huge baseball fan and a trustworthy, reliable and kind friend, WTHR reported.

Family and friends gathered at Avon High School's baseball field Saturday to honor the former player before his father threw the opening pitch.

Video: FedEx shooting victim Matthew Alexander remembered

"Matt was a pitcher for Avon. He was shortstop for Avon," Brad Alexander told the station. "I didn't do near as well as he did in the day, but I was there and I knew he was looking down saying thank you dad."

Ryan Sheets, a close friend of Alexander's for about 15 years, said Alexander had a whole room dedicated to baseball collectibles. But their friendship wasn't limited to baseball.

"We've had a lot of things happen and different life experiences and things, but whenever I'm with Matt, I remember who I was when I was 15," Sheets told WTHR. "And I like that person."

"Just hug your kids, tell them you love them," Alexander's mother, Debbie Alexander, said. "You never know when will be the last time you'll see them."

This story will be updated as more details become available.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The former employee who shot and killed eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis was interviewed by FBI agents last year, after his mother called police to say that her son might commit “suicide by cop,” the bureau said Friday.

Coroners released the names of the victims late Friday, a little less than 24 hours after the latest mass shooting to rock the U.S. Four of them were members of Indianapolis’ Sikh community. The attack was another blow to the Asian American community a month after six people of Asian descent were killed in a mass shooting in the Atlanta area and amid ongoing attacks against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Marion County Coroner’s office identified the dead as Matthew R. Alexander, 32; Samaria Blackwell, 19; Amarjeet Johal, 66; Jaswinder Kaur, 64; Jaswinder Singh, 68; Amarjit Sekhon, 48; Karli Smith, 19; and John Weisert, 74.

RELATED: Authorities identify 8 people killed in mass shooting at Indianapolis FedEx facility

The shooter was identified as Brandon Scott Hole, 19, of Indianapolis, Deputy Police Chief Craig McCartt told a news conference. Investigators searched a home in Indianapolis associated with Hole and seized evidence, including desktop computers and other electronic media, McCartt said.

Hole began firing randomly at people in the parking lot of the FedEx facility late Thursday, killing four, before entering the building, fatally shooting four more people and then turning the gun on himself, McCartt said. He said he did not know if Hole owned the gun legally.

“There was no confrontation with anyone that was there,” he said. “There was no disturbance, there was no argument. He just appeared to randomly start shooting.”

McCartt said the slayings took place in a matter of minutes, and that there were at least 100 people in the facility at the time. Many were changing shifts or were on their dinner break, he said. Several people were wounded, including five who were taken to the hospital.

RELATED: Son arrived moments after mom was wounded in Indianapolis FedEx shooting

“You deserved so much better than this,” a man who identified himself as the grandson of Johal tweeted Friday evening. Johal had planned to work a double shift Thursday so she could take Friday off, according to the grandson, who would not give his full name but identifies himself as “Komal” on his Twitter page. Johal later decided to grab her check and go home, and still had the check in her hand when police found her, Komal said.

“(What) a harsh and cruel world we live in,” he added.

Smith, the youngest of the victims, was last in contact with her family shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday, family members said in social media posts late Friday. Dominique Troutman, Smith’s sister, waited hours at the Holiday Inn for an update on her sister. “Words can’t even explain how I feel. ... I’m so hurt,” Troutman said in a Facebook post Friday night.

Weisert had been working as a bag handler at FedEx for four years, his wife, Carol, told WISH-TV. The couple was married nearly 50 years.

President Joe Biden said he had been briefed on the shooting and called gun violence “an epidemic” in the U.S.

“Too many Americans are dying every single day from gun violence. It stains our character and pierces the very soul of our nation,” he said in a statement. Later, he tweeted, “We can, and must, do more to reduce gun violence and save lives.”

RELATED: Indianapolis FedEx shooting is deadliest workplace mass shooting since start of pandemic

A FedEx employee said he was working inside the building Thursday night when he heard several gunshots in rapid succession.

“I see a man come out with a rifle in his hand and he starts firing and he starts yelling stuff that I could not understand,” Levi Miller told WTHR-TV. “What I ended up doing was ducking down to make sure he did not see me because I thought he would see me and he would shoot me.”

Paul Keenan, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis field office, said Friday that agents questioned Hole last year after his mother called police to say that her son might commit “suicide by cop.” He said the FBI was called after items were found in Hole’s bedroom but he did not elaborate on what they were. He said agents found no evidence of a crime and that they did not identify Hole as espousing a racially motivated ideology. A police report obtained by The Associated Press shows that officers seized a pump-action shotgun from Hole’s home after responding to the mother’s call. Keenan said the gun was never returned.

McCartt said Hole was a former employee of FedEx and last worked for the company in 2020. The deputy police chief said he did not know why Hole left the job or if he had ties to the workers in the facility. He said police have not yet uncovered a motive for the shooting.

Police Chief Randal Taylor noted that a “significant” number of employees at the FedEx facility are members of the Sikh community, and the Sikh Coalition later issued a statement saying it was “sad to confirm” that at least four of those killed were community members.

The coalition, which identifies itself as the largest Sikh civil rights organization in the U.S., said in the statement that it expected authorities to “conduct a full investigation — including the possibility of bias as a factor.”

Varun Nikore, executive director of the AAPI Victory Alliance, a national advocacy group for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, said in a statement that the shootings marked “yet another senseless massacre that has become a daily occurrence in this country.”

Nikore remarked that gun violence in the U.S. “is reflective of all of the spineless politicians who are beholden to the gun lobby.”

FedEx Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frederick Smith called the shooting a “senseless act of violence.”

“This is a devastating day, and words are hard to describe the emotions we all feel,” he wrote in an email to employees.

The killings marked the latest in a string of recent mass shootings across the country and the third mass shooting this year in Indianapolis. Five people, including a pregnant woman, were shot and killed in the city in January, and a man was accused of killing three adults and a child before abducting his daughter during at argument at a home in March. In other states last month, eight people were fatally shot at massage businesses in the Atlanta area, and 10 died in gunfire at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said the community must guard against resignation and “the assumption that this is simply how it must be and we might as well get used to it.”

CHICAGO — Founded more than 500 years ago in the Punjab region of South Asia, the Sikh faith has more than 25 million adherents worldwide. There are some 500,000 Sikhs living in the U.S. today, with the first immigrating in the late 1800s.

Four of the eight victims in last week’s deadly mass shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis were Indian Americans of the Sikh faith. Now, activists, artists and political leaders are calling for solidarity and acknowledgement.

At a virtual vigil for the victims of the FedEx mass shooting thousands mourned the loss of life.

A large majority of employees at the FedEx warehouse facility were of the Sikh faith. It's something that some allege the shooter, a former FedEx worker, would have known when he opened fire.

Among the dead four Sikh Americans: Amarjeet Johal, 66; Jasvinder Kaur, 50; Jaswinder Singh, 68 And Amarjit Sekhon, 48.

“People have been, you know, shaken in agony and pain. We've been quiet. We've been gathering together among ourselves to tend to each other, said Valarie Kaur, civil rights activist, attorney, and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project.

“This vigil was a way to invite people to stand in solidarity with Sikhs and see us not just as victims, but as people who have something to offer for how to find resilience and longevity in the face of ongoing injustice."

The murders come as anti-Asian hate crimes have been surging. On Thursday, with wide bipartisan support, the Senate passed a hate crime bill condemning discrimination against Asian communities in the U.S.

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi and the advocacy group Sikh Coalition have called for an investigation into whether the Indianapolis attack was driven by anti-Sikh motivations.

“The fact that the shooter had reportedly been on white supremacist websites is a critical piece of new and relevant information,” said Sim J. Singh, senior manager of policy and advocacy at the Sikh Coalition. “And that's why we're still underscoring the need for that investigation with potential bias, motivation.”

“We have been hearing eyewitness accounts from the ground that the gunman specifically targeted Sikh employees during his rampage. In essence, he hunted us,” said Kaur.

Anti-Sikh sentiment and violence is not new. In the aftermath of 9/11, more than 700 attacks and discriminatory harassment were reported against the community.

Balbir Singh Sodhi, an Arizona gas station owner who possibly targeted because of his turban and beard, was murdered in the first post-9/11 retaliatory hate incident.

“People believed that individuals who look like myself weren't really a part of the United States,” said Singh.

In 2012, a white supremacist fatally shot six worshippers at a Sikh Temple in the Milwaukee suburb of Oak Creek. It sent shockwaves through the tightknit community.

“He knew that he was shooting up a Sikh house of worship,” said Singh. “This was not a case of mistaken identity.”

“In the wake of Oak Creek, we were just trying to get the nation to talk about white supremacy and our community in that narrative, but we couldn't even get them to pronounce Sikh or ‘Seek’ or know who we were or what we were about. And then, the nation moved on,” said Kaur.

And concern is growing.

According to a new Pew study, 32 percent of Asian adults say they have feared someone might threaten or physically attack them, more than other racial or ethnic group. The vast majority (81 percent) also say violence against them is increasing.

“My own son heard the words ‘Go back to your country’ when he was only 4 years old,” said Kaur. “And memories from Oak Creek are coming back to me, memories from post 9/11 are coming back to me, and all of us are in this kind of deep trauma as a community.”

Kaur says in light of the killings in Indianapolis, it’s time for others to recognize that racial violence must be called out and reckoned with.

“We're calling for our fellow advocates to use the hashtag #StandwithSikhs to see us as part of the broader narrative to hashtag #StopAsianHate to see us as part of the broader narrative to stop and end racial violence in this country.”

For now, the Sikh community is standing in solidarity and praying for justice.