ATLANTA, May 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A man accused of shooting and killing one woman and injuring four others at a hospital in Atlanta on Wednesday was arrested following an hours-long manhunt, police said.
Deion Patterson, 24, was taken into custody at a condominium complex in nearby Cobb County without incident, officials said at a Wednesday night news conference announcing his arrest.
Around midday, Patterson went inside the Northside Hospital medical facility and began shooting, police said. The suspect had become agitated while waiting for an appointment when he pulled out a handgun and opened fire, a law enforcement source said.
After leaving the building, located in Atlanta’s Midtown neighborhood, the suspect allegedly stole an unattended truck at a nearby gas station and drove north to Cobb County. Atlanta police said they received an alert that the vehicle’s license plate was spotted on license plate-reading cameras near a facility close to the Atlanta Braves’ ballpark.
After fielding multiple calls from the public regarding possible sightings of the suspect, an operator flagged to a 911 dispatcher that one of the sightings appeared legitimate, Cobb County Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer said during Wednesday night’s briefing.
An undercover officer, who later spotted and confronted the suspect, called for backup and the arrest was made without incident, VanHoozer said.
The arrest capped about eight hours of searching after the suspect allegedly shot and killed a 39-year-old woman and injured four other women. The injured victims were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital where three were in critical condition and the fourth in stable condition as of Wednesday evening.
The injured women ranged in age between 25 and 71 years old, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said earlier Wednesday.
The suspect’s family has been cooperating with authorities, Schierbaum said, and officials on Wednesday evening confirmed the family’s help.
In an interview with CBS affiliate WANF, the suspect’s mother gave condolences to the victims and said her son suffered from mental illness.
A US Coast Guard spokesperson said the suspect joined the Coast Guard in July 2018 and was discharged in January 2023. –
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that U.S. President Joe Biden was “frustrated” by the frequent occurrence of mass shootings in the country.
A total of 190 mass shootings have taken place in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter.
More than 14,200 people have lost their lives due to gun violence across the country in the past several months, the website’s data showed. — NNN-AGENCIES
