Suspect held in Atlanta medical facility shooting that left 1 dead, 4 hurt
Police say they have apprehended a man who allegedly opened fire inside the waiting room of an Atlanta medical facility, killing one woman and wounding four others Wednesday.
Authorities had swarmed the city’s bustling Midtown neighborhood earlier in the day in search of the suspect, who fled after the shooting. Police said in a statement that the gunman, whom they identified as 24-year-old Deion Patterson, was captured Wednesday evening. Authorities did not immediately release additional information about where Patterson was found.
Shortly after noon, police were called to the Northside medical building on West Peachtree Street in a commercial area with many office towers and high-rise apartments.
Patterson had an appointment at the medical practice and shortly after arriving shot the first victim, law enforcement officials said at a news conference Wednesday night. The shooting lasted about two minutes before Patterson left the building and went to a Shell gas station and stole a pickup truck that had been left running and unattended, authorities said.
News of the shooting prompted workers and lunchgoers to shelter in place for hours.
Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said a 39-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting. Those wounded are also women, ages 25, 39, 56 and 71, he said.
Atlanta Deputy Police Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said the four wounded women remained in critical condition but were stable Wednesday night.
They “are fighting for their lives at Grady Hospital,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said during a news conference.
Hampton declined to discuss any details of the investigation or possible motive, saying, “Why he did what he did, all of that is still under investigation.”
Patterson’s mother, Minyone, who police said had accompanied her son to the medical office, told the Associated Press by phone that her son, a former Coast Guardsman, had “some mental instability going on” from medication he received from the Veterans Affairs health system that he began taking Friday.
She said that her son had wanted Ativan to deal with anxiety and depression but that the VA wouldn’t give it to him because he was told it would be “too addicting.” Noting that she’s a nurse, she added that she told VA health workers he would have taken only the proper dosage “because he listened to me in every way.”
“Those families, those families,” she said, starting to sob. “They’re hurting because they wouldn’t give my son his damn Ativan. Those families lost their loved ones because he had a mental break because they wouldn’t listen to me.”
She ended the call without saying what medication her son had been taking.
“We are horrified and saddened to hear of the active shooter situation in Atlanta today,” Veterans Affairs Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said in an emailed statement. “Due to patient privacy, we cannot discuss the Veteran’s personal information without written consent.”
Mayor Dickens applauded the fact that Patterson was taken into custody alive so he can be prosecuted.
“Right now, we’ve had a successful end to a traumatic day,” Dickens said, while also advocating for tougher gun laws and stressing the importance of police training.
“I hope the city, the region, rests easy that he is in custody, but I also hope that we will stay vigilant to continue to look at a future where individuals who shouldn’t have a gun in possession won’t have one, and also that individuals are brought to justice, and also that we deal with these things that are mental health or easy access to guns,” Dickens said.
After getting information that the suspect may have entered Cobb County, investigators checked surveillance and traffic cameras and found that the vehicle that he appeared to be driving had done so around 12:30 p.m., county Police Sgt. Wayne Delk said. That discovery set off a massive search in the county just northwest of Atlanta.
Delk said Atlanta police recovered the vehicle in a parking garage near the Battery, a mixed-use development next to the stadium where the Atlanta Braves play.
In a statement, the U.S. Coast Guard said Patterson had joined the service in 2018 and was discharged from active duty in January. He was an electrician’s mate second class at the time.
A majority of Americans say they or a family member has experienced gun violence, such as witnessing a shooting, being threatened by a person with a gun, or being shot.
Around the time of the shooting, Cassidy Hale, a medical device representative, said she was driving to the facility to check on a machine in the 12th-floor outpatient surgery center.
Hale saw firetrucks but didn’t realize anything was wrong until after she parked and found the elevator wasn’t working. She said she called the operating room manager, who told her there was an active shooter and she should go back to her car.
Hale said police kept her from leaving the parking garage and later checked each car and escorted her out to be interviewed.
She then gathered with other employees and patients in a building across the street, where she said that “everyone was really in shock” and “trying to process what was going on.”
The shooting comes as cities around the U.S. have been racked by mass shootings and other gun violence.
A new poll finds broad public support for a variety of gun restrictions, including many supported by majorities of Republicans and gun owners.
Shortly after the shooting, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) took to the Senate floor to decry gun violence and to urge his colleagues to advance gun reform.
“There have been so many mass shootings ... that, tragically, we act as if this is routine,” Warnock said during a 12-minute speech. “We behave as if this is normal. It is not normal.”
He added: “I shudder to say it, but the truth is, in a real sense, it’s only a matter of time that this kind of tragedy comes knocking on your door.”
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