Colts GM Chris Ballard calls for change after Greenwood mall shooting: 'When does this end?'

WESTFIELD ‒ On the day his players would report for another year of training camp, Colts general manager Chris Ballard sat down at a podium with football momentarily far from the mind.

He went to a place he wished he didn't have to go.

"Condolences for all the families in Greenwood," Ballard said. "I don't understand."

He was referring to the mass shooting that took place on July 17 at the Greenwood Park Mall just 10 miles south of Lucas Oil Stadium. Three people lost their lives and two others were injured at the hands of a 20-year-old with an AR-15 rifle. The shooting ended when a bystander shot and killed the perpetrator.

It is one of more than 300 mass shootings in the United States in 2022.

"To me, it's a lot of common sense, and we lack it right now in this country. It's a shame," Ballard continued. "Highland Park, Uvalde, Greenwood, Buffalo. I mean, when does some common sense come to play and when does this end? When do our elected officials actually do something about it instead of their own political gain? Both sides are completely wrong."

MORE: What we know about the Greenwood Park Mall shooting

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

The latest shootings have touched Ballard and members of the Colts organization in various ways. The incident in Highland Park, Ill., that killed seven at a Fourth of July parade took place 10 miles from where Ballard spent more than a decade as a member of the Bears. Uvalde, where 18 students and two teachers were gunned down in an elementary school classroom, is in Texas, where Ballard grew up.

Buffalo, where 10 people died in a grocery store at the hands of a white supremacist, was where Colts coach Frank Reich spent a decade as a quarterback with the Bills. Reich and Colts owner Jim Irsay made donations to the Buffalo Together Fund in the days following.

The latest major headline prompted Ballard to speak out, his anger, confusion and hurt mixing together one sentence at a time.

"I'm not anti-gun, but I'm anti-military-style weapons," Ballard said. "It blows my mind that an 18-year-old kid can walk in and buy an AK-15 automatic weapon. That makes no sense. Zero. It's a shame that we live in a country that can't come to an agreement because of politics on doing the right thing for our country. It makes zero sense. Zero."

Ballard did eventually move to topics of football surrounding his team entering his sixth season as general manager. He had a job to do, and he'd eventually move on to talks about player contracts and possible free agents, position battles and another new starting quarterback, all in a 20-minute news conference.

But he dedicated the start to the victims in Greenwood: Pedro Pineda, 56, and his wife, Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda, 37; and Victor Gomez, 30. The statement lasted two minutes, just a little longer than the shooting did.

"Eventually we'll get up and we won't have to talk about this," Ballard said. "But right now, we cannot remain silent on this issue. (Golden State Warriors coach) Steve Kerr said it best: 'We can't become numb.' That's what we've done. We've become numb to it, like it's just OK. It's not OK. People need to be held accountable. Our politicians need to be held accountable."

"At what point are they going to put their own self-interests aside and do the right thing for the country?"

Contact Colts insider Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Greenwood Park Mall shooting addressed by Colts GM Chris Ballard