Numerous law enforcement agencies were searching for a 24-year-old man suspected of fatally shooting one woman and injuring four others inside a waiting room at a hospital in Atlanta before carjacking a vehicle and fleeing the scene, police said Wednesday.
The Atlanta Police Department identified the suspect as Deion Patterson and shared five photos of the alleged shooter, four of them surveillance images from the scene.
“We are dealing with someone that is armed and dangerous,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said in a press conference. “If you see him, do not approach. You are to call 911.”
There is a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and indictment, police said.
Police received a call of shots fired on the 11th floor of Northside Hospital’s midtown location just after noon Wednesday, Atlanta Police Department Chief Darin Schierbaum said in a press conference.
Officials believe the suspect then carjacked a vehicle near the scene and left the area, he said. Law enforcement located has the car, but Schierbaum could not immediately say where. Officers have not located a firearm, he said.
Police are following up on leads in the city and in nearby Cobb County, and the FBI and U.S. Secret Service were involved in the search, Schierbaum said.
“Portions of Cobb County that border Atlanta may see heavier than normal presence,” the Cobb County Police Department wrote on Twitter.
Police lifted a shelter-in-place advisory for Midtown Atlanta Wednesday afternoon but asked people to continue avoiding the area of the shooting.
Three of four injured victims in critical condition
One woman, 39, died at the scene, he said. The four injured women – ages 71, 56, 39 and 25 – were taken to a hospital, Schierbaum said.
Three of the four injured women were in critical condition, said Robert Jansen, chief medical officer at Grady Health System, in an afternoon press conference. All four were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, which is close to Northside Hospital’s midtown location.
It was not immediately clear if the victims were patients or staff, Schierbaum said.
Jansen said the hospital issued a call for a mass casualty event and had multiple surgeons and trauma staff in the trauma bay within minutes, anticipating up to 12 patients. The hospital initially closed to visitors, but had reopened as of Wednesday afternoon, he said.
Atlanta schools cleared to release students
Several Atlanta Public Schools locked down after the shooting. By Wednesday afternoon, the district announced it had received the green light from law enforcement to release students from all schools.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we have dispatched officers at every school for today’s dismissal,” the district said in a statement, telling parents and guardians to expect transportation delays.
Warnock: ‘None of us is safe’
Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock said on the Senate floor Wednesday that his two children’s schools were placed on lockdown as police searched for the suspect.
“They are there. I’m here, hoping and praying that they are safe. But the truth is none of us is safe,” Warnock said.
‘Frightening trend’Deadly assaults on US medical workers on the rise
Warnock called on lawmakers to act on gun violence and condemned gun lobbyists. He said it was “deeply upsetting” that the shooting happened in a medical building where health care workers and first responders work to keep people safe.
“This happened in a medical facility where people are trying to find healing,” he said.
Nearly 200 mass shootings in the US in 2023
The incident is the 191st mass shooting in the U.S. this year, defined as at least four victims hit by gunfire, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks shootings.
The White House was aware of the incident and in contact with local officials, Dickens said.
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