1 dead, 4 hurt in shooting inside Atlanta medical facility

Police officers work the scene of a shooting at a Northside Hospital medical facility on May 3, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. Pic/AFP

Police said a man opened fire inside the waiting room of an Atlanta medical facility, killing one woman and injuring four others Wednesday as authorities swarmed the city's bustling midtown neighbourhood in search of the 24-year-old suspect. Authorities said the gunman, who police identified as Deion Patterson, stole a car and fled after shooting five women on the 11th floor of a Northside medical building shortly after noon. The facility is located in a commercial area filled with office towers and high-rise apartments.

"We believe (Patterson) carjacked a vehicle a short distance away and was able to flee the scene as the law enforcement agencies were descending on this area," Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said during a news conference. Schierbaum said a 39-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting. The four injured victims were also women, aged 25, 39, 56 and 71. Those four "are fighting for their lives at Grady Hospital," Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens told reporters. Police asked anyone with information about Patterson's whereabouts to call 911 and not approach him. Atlanta police said a vehicle that was stolen a few blocks away from the shooting Wednesday afternoon has been recovered in suburban Cobb County, though officials did not say whether that was the vehicle they believe Patterson had stolen.

"This is a very active search," Schierbaum said. "We're following up on credible leads that are currently active in Cobb County, as well as some here in the city." Schierbaum added that Patterson's family is "being cooperative" with investigators. 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 in second class at the time. Crime Stoppers was offering a reward of up to USD 10,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the suspect. 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 building's 12th-floor outpatient surgery centre. Hale saw firetrucks but didn't realise anything was wrong until after she parked and found the elevator wasn't working.

Hale 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 "everyone was really in shock" and "trying to process what was going on." The shooting comes as cities around the U.S. have been wracked by gun violence and mass shootings in 2023. Shortly after the shooting, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia took to the Senate floor to decry gun violence and 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." The Atlanta pastor 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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