(ATLANTA) — A gunman killed one and wounded four others in a mass shooting in an Atlanta medical center waiting room on Wednesday, police said.
The suspect, identified as 24-year-old Deion Patterson, was apprehended following an hourslong manhunt, police said Wednesday night.
Here’s how the news developed. All times Eastern:
May 04, 12:15 PM EDT
Hospital gives updates on injured victims
Three of the four women who were shot and injured remain in the intensive care unit, Dr. Robert Jansen, the chief medical officer at Grady Health, said at a news conference Thursday.
Two of those three women are “critical” and will return to the operating room for additional procedures, he said. The third patient in intensive care is stable and hopefully can move out of the ICU later in the day, he said.
The fourth woman who was shot is in stable condition, he said.
“As of right now everybody is as stable as they can be given the nature of their injuries,” Jansen said.
Jansen said he’s spoken with two of the injured victims.
“They have been traumatized,” he said.
“They are very grateful for the support and care they’ve received,” he said, however, “the fact that they were in a health care facility just makes it worse.”
Jansen noted that “the impact” of this shooting “on the staff is something you can’t imagine.”
“Unfortunately, in this day and age, seeing shooting victims is almost a daily occurrence here,” he said.
“But when they come in like this, particularly because it happened in a health care setting, it resonates more,” he said, adding that the hospital staff is being offered support.
May 04, 11:44 AM EDT
Suspect charged with murder, aggravated assault
The suspected gunman, 24-year-old Deion Patterson, has been charged with one count of murder and four counts of aggravated assault.
He waived his Thursday court appearance, according to Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB.
May 04, 10:37 AM EDT
Suspect had semi-automatic handgun
The suspected gunman, 24-year-old Deion Patterson, was armed with a semi-automatic handgun when he allegedly shot five people in a medical center waiting room, according to court documents.
The documents identify the surviving victims as Georgette Whitlow, Lisa Glynn, Jazzmin Daniel and Alesha Hollinger. All four of them remain hospitalized.
Hollinger was shot in the face, according to the documents, while Daniel was shot multiple times in the abdomen. Whitlow was shot in the arm and Glynn was shot in the abdomen.
Amy St. Pierre, 39, an employee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was killed in Wednesday’s shooting.
May 04, 10:27 AM EDT
Atlanta mayor: ‘It’s the guns’
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens released an impassioned letter addressed to city residents on Thursday pleading for change in the wake of Wednesday’s mass shooting in a medical center waiting room.
“This suspect was arrested and will stand trial for his crimes,” the mayor said. “But that doesn’t change the fact that one woman died, and four others were seriously injured. It doesn’t change the fact that our city experienced a collective trauma. Families are grieving today, and our community is on edge.”
“We will learn more in the coming days about the circumstances of this shooting. But one thing we already know is that an incident like this is tragically too common in America,” Dickens said. “We need national action to change the way we treat mental health. And we need action that keeps guns out of the hands of people who should not have them.”
“We cannot accept mass shootings as normal in our country,” he continued. “Other nations have challenges with mental health, but they don’t have this level of gun violence that we do.”
“It’s the guns,” the mayor stressed. “While we respect the rights conveyed by the 2nd Amendment, we also need more actions to protect the rights of our citizens to go about their lives — to go to a doctor’s office, a supermarket, a gas station, their school — without the threat of being gunned down.”
May 04, 8:50 AM EDT
Suspect charged with murder, aggravated assault
The suspected gunman, 24-year-old Deion Patterson, has been charged with one count of murder and four counts of aggravated assault.
He’s due in court at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.
May 03, 11:00 PM EDT
Victim identified as CDC employee
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the 39-year-old victim who was killed in Wednesday’s shooting as Amy St. Pierre.
“CDC is deeply saddened by the unexpected loss of a colleague killed today in the Midtown Atlanta shooting,” it said in a statement. “Our hearts are with her family, friends and colleagues as they remember her and grieve this tragic loss.”
May 03, 9:34 PM EDT
Suspect taken into custody without incident, technology ‘played a huge role’: Police
The suspect was taken into custody without incident, police said Wednesday during a press conference.
The suspect entered the medical facility shortly before noon and allegedly shot the first victim shortly after, Deputy Chief Charles Hampton said. The suspect spent two minutes in the building before exiting and going to a Shell gas station, where he commandeered a pickup truck, according to Hampton.
Officers were able to place the license plate number into the reader system, Hampton said, and received an alert at approximately 12:30 that the suspect was in Cobb County.
Technology “played a huge role,” Cobb County Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer said, “but technology doesn’t work without the dedicated people behind it.”
Police had checked and cleared an unoccupied building they knew the suspect had gone into, VanHoozer said, adding that a “real-time operator” took a 911 call and had an instinct that it was legitimate, and they prioritized that call.
An undercover officer made the first contact with the suspect and had backup from uniformed officers, the chief said.
May 03, 8:00 PM EDT
Suspect has been captured, police say
The suspect, Deion Patterson, has been apprehended following an hourslong manhunt, Atlanta police said.
May 03, 6:49 PM EDT
Suspect seen in Cobb County shortly after shooting, police say
Police in Cobb County said Deion Patterson was seen on video in the county around 12:30 p.m. ET, roughly 20 minutes after the shooting, though it’s unclear if he’s still in the area.
Cobb County Police Sgt. Wayne Delk said during a press briefing that after learning Patterson might be in the area, his team checked flock cameras and “did discover that the vehicle had entered Cobb County,” located northwest of Midtown Atlanta, where the shooting occurred.
“Around 12:30 p.m., we did spot what appeared to be a suspect in this area, which is why we have such a heavy presence,” Delk said.
Police did not discover the video footage until around 2:30 p.m., and Delk acknowledged it’s unclear if Patterson is still in the county.
“He might still be in the area,” he said.
The vehicle Patterson was believed to be driving was recovered by Atlanta police in a parking garage, Delk said.
-ABC News’ Will McDuffie
May 03, 5:24 PM EDT
3 patients remain ‘critically ill’
Of the four women who were shot and injured in the medical facility waiting room, three of them are considered “critically ill” and are in the intensive care unit, according to Dr. Robert Jansen, the chief medical officer at Grady Health.
The most seriously injured patient remains in the operating room, Jansen said, while a second victim has completed an operation.
Another victim underwent an interventional radiology procedure, which is used to repair vascular injuries, and will need more procedures in the future, he said.
The fourth patient is considered stable, he said.
-ABC News’ Darren Reynolds
May 03, 4:51 PM EDT
Sen. Warnock, in grief for his home state, begs Congress to take action
Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., gave a passionate speech on the Senate floor in the wake of the latest mass shooting to strike the nation, this one unfolding in his “own backyard.”
“I rise today in shock and sorrow and in grief for my home state,” Warnock said.
Police officers work the scene of a shooting near a medical facility, May 3, 2023, in Atlanta.
Warnock noted that his two children were under lockdown at school on Wednesday amid the ongoing hunt for the Atlanta gunman.
“We behave as if this is normal — it is not normal. It is not right for us to live in a nation where nobody is safe, no matter where they are. We’re not safe in our schools. We’re not safe in our workplaces. We’re not safe at the grocery store. We’re not safe at movie theaters. We’re not safe at spas. We’re not safe in our houses of worship. There is no sanctuary in the sanctuary. We’re not safe at concerts. We’re not safe at banks. We’re not safe at parades. We’re not safe in our own yards and in our own homes,” he said. “And now, today, we can add medical facilities to that list.”
He warned, “It’s only a matter of time that this kind of tragedy comes knocking on your door.”
As a pastor, Warnock said, “I’m praying for those who are affected by this tragedy,” but he stressed, “It is a contradiction to say that you are thinking and praying and do nothing. … We pray by taking action.”
Warnock said he’s “pleading” with his colleagues in Congress to pass stricter gun reforms to “do everything we can to protect all of us and certainly all of our children.”
-ABC News’ Trish Turner
May 03, 3:50 PM EDT
39-year-old woman killed, 4 women injured
The manhunt is ongoing for the mass shooting suspect, 24-year-old Deion Patterson, Atlanta police said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. Police said the gun has not been recovered.
The shooting, which unfolded in a medical center waiting room, killed a 39-year-old woman, police said.
The four injured victims, who are all women, are “fighting for their lives,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said. They are ages 71, 56, 39 and 25, police said.
“As soon as possible I’ll be in touch with the families of the victims,” he said.
Patterson’s family is cooperating with the investigation, police said.
May 03, 3:17 PM EDT
Doctor recounts performing surgery as shooting unfolded 1 floor below
Dr. Timothy Simons was performing surgery one floor above the scene where the shooting unfolded.
He told ABC News he completed the surgery and then sheltered in place.
When police came to clear the building floor by floor, Simons said he was told to put his hands up to verify that he was not the shooter.
“Then they escorted us all down the stairs,” he said.
-ABC News’ Janice McDonald
May 03, 2:58 PM EDT
Carjacking may be connected to shooting
As Atlanta police search for the suspected gunman, 24-year-old Deion Patterson, they say a car was stolen “not long after the shooting” and remains missing.
“We are working to locate the carjacked vehicle and to determine whether it is connected to the shooting,” police said.
May 03, 2:31 PM EDT
Doctor saw officers swarm his building
Dr. Ahmed Ali, a radiation oncologist at the building, told ABC Atlanta affiliate WSB that he was returning from his lunch break when he saw armed officers swam the scene.
“I was worried what was happening,” he said. “Building security … they told me gunshots were coming from the 11th floor. They said there was a pool of blood in the elevator shafts when the doors opened.”
-ABC News’ Ivan Pereira
May 03, 2:30 PM EDT
3 critically injured, 1 remains in ER
Of the four people who were shot and injured, three are in critical condition and one is in the emergency department, according to hospital officials.
All four are adults, officials said.
May 03, 2:02 PM EDT
1 dead, 4 injured
One person was killed and four were injured in the shooting at Laureate Medical Center in Atlanta, according to police.
“Officers are actively searching for the suspect and any other victims,” police said.
Northside Hospital tweeted that it’s “cooperating with law enforcement following the shooting at our midtown #Atlanta location earlier this afternoon. We urge people in the area to shelter in place and follow instructions from law enforcement on the scene.”
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