Deion Patterson declined to appear in court on Thursday. He allegedly started shooting Wednesday in the waiting room of a doctor’s office. During the long chase, employees and others from the busy business sector sought refuge.
Just after noon, law enforcement swarmed the area looking for the shooter. Just northwest of Atlanta in Cobb County, authorities apprehended the 24-year-old suspect.
Charles Hampton Jr., the deputy chief of the Atlanta Police Department, declined to comment on details of the investigation or a potential motivation, saying, “Why did he do what he did, all of that always makes a difference. under investigation.”
Police said at a press conference Wednesday night that the suspect had an appointment at a medical facility in Northside and began shooting immediately after arriving. The incident lasted about two minutes. After that, the suspect entered a Shell gas station and stole an unattended moving van, cops said.
At the site of the incident, a 39-year-old woman was identified as deceased, according to Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum.
Amy St. Pierre was named by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has verified that St. Pierre has a job there.
The untimely death of a colleague in today’s shooting in Midtown Atlanta left the CDC “deeply saddened,” according to spokesman Benjamin Haynes. “As they remember her and mourn this tragic loss, our hearts go out to her family, friends and colleagues,” the statement read.
The suspect’s mother expressed sympathy for the victims in an interview with CBS Atlanta station WANF and said her son suffered from mental illness.
“He doesn’t know,” Minyone Patterson said. “At this time he is unaware. Please. When we say this mental illness is genuine, we mean it is real from a medical perspective. And when someone asks for help or when you see he is behaving strangely he needs Don’t ignore them but help them They need help, and despite my efforts to fight for my child he has been repressed.
Dr Robert Jansen, Grady Health System’s chief medical officer, told reporters that the four injured women, ages 25, 39, 56 and 71, remained in hospital on Thursday, two of them in critical condition and two in stable condition.
None of the patients were named by Jansen. They have been listed as Jazzmin Daniel, Lisa Glynn, Alesha Hollinger and Georgette Whitlow in arrest warrants. Jazzmin Daniel was shot in the abdomen; Lisa Glynn suffered a stomach injury; and Georgette Whitlow was shot in the arm.