CNN
—
After a US Coast Guard veteran opened hearth inside a ready room in an Atlanta medical constructing Wednesday morning, killing one girl and injuring 4 others, authorities say the suspect led legislation enforcement on an hourslong manhunt that lastly concluded when a tipster helped lead police to his location in a neighboring county.
The suspect, Deion Patterson, had a medical appointment on the Northside Medical Midtown facility and was in search of new therapy as a result of he was dissatisfied with the care he was getting from the Division of Veterans Affairs, his mom informed investigators, in line with a high-level supply with the Atlanta Police Division.
Patterson, 24, had served with the Coast Guard from 2018 till his discharge in January 2023, the navy department mentioned. CNN has reached out to the VA for remark.
However whereas within the facility, Patterson turned agitated, pulled out a handgun and started firing, the supply informed CNN.
Amy St. Pierre, 38, recognized by the Fulton County health worker’s workplace, died on the scene as 4 different injured ladies have been rushed to a close-by hospital, police mentioned.
As legislation enforcement swarmed into the realm, authorities say Patterson was fleeing the constructing on foot, then hijacking a automotive and escaping.
Through the ensuing eight-hour seek for the suspect, investigators scrambled to trace Patterson as he fled into neighboring Cobb County, drawing on digicam know-how programs and knowledge supplied by his household, police defined.
Nevertheless it was finally a tip that led an undercover officer to the suspect’s location Wednesday evening, Cobb County Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer mentioned.
“Know-how performed an enormous function,” VanHoozer mentioned. “However know-how doesn’t do any good with out people who find themselves decided to seize a person who would do one thing like this. And right now we noticed the place these two issues got here collectively in an incredible means.”
Patterson is dealing with one rely of homicide and 4 counts of aggravated assault, in line with Fulton County jail information. He’s anticipated to make his first courtroom look on Thursday.
The assault is among the many simply over 190 mass shootings in the USA up to now this yr, in line with the Gun Violence Archive, which, like CNN, defines a mass capturing as one wherein 4 or extra individuals are shot, excluding the shooter.
Right here’s how the hunt for the suspect unfolded.
The assault thrust certainly one of Atlanta’s busiest industrial facilities into concern and chaos as a number of surrounding condominium buildings, companies and eating places sheltered in place as a number of legislation enforcement companies descended upon the group.
Officers have been first known as to the scene at 12:08 p.m. ET, mentioned Atlanta Police Division Chief Darin Schierbaum.
Annie Eaveson, who lives a block from the medical heart, informed CNN her condominium constructing was positioned on lockdown because the incident unfolded.
“I noticed two folks taken out on stretchers. Waves of armored officers went inside in shifts virtually. You may see medical professionals huddled up in workplaces.”
However Patterson had fled the constructing on foot, shortly making his option to a close-by gasoline station, in line with Charles Hampton, Atlanta police’s Deputy Chief of Legal Investigations.
There, a “digicam community system” caught footage of the suspect stealing a pickup truck that had been left working and unattended, Hampton mentioned. The truck’s tag was then submitted to a license plate reader system, he mentioned.
At about 12:30 p.m., license plate readers noticed the truck in neighboring Cobb County, which is about 15 miles from the scene of the assault, the deputy chief mentioned.
Cobb County officers have been instantly notified, Hampton mentioned, and officers there started scouring the realm for the automobile, in line with VanHoozer, the Cobb County police chief.
Because the search stretched into the afternoon and night, Cobb County legislation enforcement have been receiving a wave of calls reporting attainable sighting of the suspect, making a “chaotic scene” as officers responded to a number of false alarms, VanHoozer mentioned.
“These are massively advanced investigations and knowledge is available in so shortly,” the chief mentioned Wednesday evening. “It’s so complicated and so contradicting that we discover that we are sometimes making an attempt to go three or 4 totally different locations in a short time – every seeming to be the suspect.”
Patterson was lastly captured in a gated condominium advanced within the county, residents informed CNN.
Christy Colwell – a Waterford Place resident – mentioned canine barking inside the advanced led her to fret that the suspect might be hiding within the pool space, which features a gazebo. She mentioned she knowledgeable a police officer who was on the facility responding to a noise name.
“He simply began working – the police officer – and mentioned, ‘Get on the grass! Get on the grass!’” mentioned resident Debra Sansavieri. “Instantly about 30 police automobiles got here flying down.”
A police crime heart operator additionally alerted officers to a 911 name they believed was probably concerning the suspect, the chief mentioned.
“We prioritized that decision on the radio,” he mentioned, including each undercover and uniformed officers have been despatched to the scene.
“I imagine … that an undercover officer was the one which initially noticed and confronted this particular person and was capable of then have back-up from uniformed officers that got here in and took him into custody with out incident,” VanHoozer mentioned.
VanHoozer credited the profitable seize partially to current advances in police monitoring know-how.
“In the event you rewind the hand of time 4 years, we in all probability wouldn’t be the place we’re right now, proper now,” he mentioned.
St. Pierre, who was killed within the assault, labored for the Atlanta-based Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, the company confirmed to CNN. The company mentioned in a press release that it’s “deeply saddened” by the loss.
“Our hearts are along with her household, mates, and colleagues as they bear in mind her and grieve this tragic loss,” CDC spokesperson Benjamin Haynes mentioned.
The surviving victims have been delivered to the close by Grady Memorial Hospital – Atlanta’s solely Stage 1 trauma heart.
Three of the ladies arrived to the hospital in vital situation and needed to endure surgical procedure, whereas the fourth was in steady situation, the hospital mentioned in a press release.
One of many vital sufferers wanted surgical procedure for a gunshot wound to the stomach and the opposite for a wound to the arm, a hospital consultant mentioned. The third affected person had suffered a gunshot wound to the face and required an interventional radiology process, which is used to cease bleeding by inserting catheters instantly into blood vessels, the hospital mentioned.
They have been recovering within the ICU as of Wednesday night, the hospital assertion mentioned.
The steady sufferer will probably not want surgical procedure, Grady Well being System Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Jansen mentioned in a information convention.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens condemned the assault as “a horrible act of gun violence” in a information convention.
“Equally horrifying is that we all know that this isn’t distinctive in our nation,” Dickens mentioned, calling for elevated gun management laws.
“There’s plenty of discuss second modification rights,” the mayor mentioned. “We want extra actions concerning the rights of our residents to go about their lives – to have the ability to go to a docs workplace, to a grocery store, to a gasoline station, or to their faculty with out the specter of being gunned down.”