Atlanta Hospital Mass shooting

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At least one woman was killed and at least four others were injured in a shooting Wednesday at a medical building in Atlanta, authorities said. No suspect was in custody, but police identified him on Twitter as Deion Patterson, 24, and were searching for him as of Wednesday afternoon.

The suspect was described in an alert sent to cellphones as a Black male wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, black pants and brown shoes. Anyone with information about the suspect's whereabouts was urged to call 911.

The five women were shot around midday Wednesday in a waiting room on an upper floor of Northside Hospital, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum told reporters during a press conference. He said it was too soon to know whether the victims were targeted, and it wasn't immediately clear if the victims were patients or hospital employees.

Patterson apparently became agitated as he was waiting for an appointment, a law enforcement source told CBS News' Pat Milton. He then pulled out a handgun and began shooting, striking the five women.

In a tweet, Northside Hospital said it is "cooperating with law enforcement" following a shooting at its Midtown location.

A 39-year-old woman died at the scene of the shooting and four other women were taken to a hospital for treatment, Schierbaum told reporters. Three patients were in critical condition and one was in stable condition, according to Grady Memorial Hospital.

The injured women ranged in age between 25 and 71 years old, Schierbaum said.

The suspect was seen by a license plate-scanning camera about 12:30 p.m. north of Midtown, in the area around Interstate-75 and Interstate-285, at a parking garage near The Battery and close to Truist Park, Cobb County public information office Sgt. Wayne Delk said during an early evening news conference.

The suspect is believed to have carjacked a vehicle to flee the scene as authorities responded to the shooting, Schierbaum said. Authorities believe they've recovered the vehicle, the police chief said.

The suspect's family has been cooperating with authorities, Schierbaum said.

The chief described the suspect's prior contact with the Atlanta Police Department as "minimal." A U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson said the suspect entered the Coast Guard in July 2018 and was discharged in January 2023, CBS News' Nicole Sganga reports.

A man accused of opening fire in an Atlanta medical facility waiting room Wednesday, killing a woman and wounding four others, was arrested in a neighboring county after an hourslong manhunt, police said.

Atlanta police announced the arrest of Deion Patterson, 24, at around 8 p.m., almost eight hours after the deadly shooting shortly after noon.

He was arrested in Cobb County, northwest of the city, officials said.

But why Patterson allegedly opened fire in an 11th-floor waiting room of a Northside Hospital medical facility remained unclear.

"We know that he had an appointment at the facility," Deputy Atlanta Police Chief Charles Hampton said at a news conference. "Why he did what he did, all that is still under investigation."

The shooter used a handgun, which has been recovered, Hampton said.

An eight-hour manhunt that threw a major American city into fear and chaos ended when barking dogs at a suburban condo complex led to the arrest of a US Coast Guard veteran suspected of fatally shooting a woman and wounding four others in a medical waiting room in the bustling heart of Atlanta, authorities said.

The suspect, Deion Duwane Patterson, 24, was armed when he was arrested Wednesday evening, Cobb County Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer said Thursday.

What his intent was, I can’t say. Was he lying in wait? Would he have done something out of desperation to get away? Who knows,” the suburban police chief said.

Patterson faces one count of murder and four counts of aggravated assault, Fulton County jail records show. He waived his right to a first appearance in court, which had been set for Thursday morning, the jail supervisor said.

Now, as a community mourns the loss of a beloved health worker in a place traditionally considered safe, the suspect’s mother is apologizing to the families of those slain and hurt. She also has a message for anyone asked to help someone with mental illness: “Don’t disregard them.”

“I’m trying to advocate for my son,” Minyone Patterson said, according to CNN affiliate WANF. “Just be careful.”

The shooting spree claimed the life of 38-year-old Amy St. Pierre, who worked at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The attack marked one of 192 mass shootings this year in the United States with four or more people shot, excluding a gunman, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The four shooting victims who survived remained hospitalized at Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta’s only Level 1 trauma center.

At least two were in critical condition Thursday, said Dr. Robert Jansen, chief medical officer of Grady Health System. He said two patients needed to return to the operating room.

Jansen said he was able to speak with two of the patients, who are “very grateful for the support and care they’ve received.”

But “they have been traumatized,” the doctor said. “They realize that this is a horrific event. And the fact that they were in a health care facility just makes it worse.”

Deion Patterson had sought treatment around noon Wednesday at the Northside Medical Midtown facility because he was dissatisfied with care he was getting from the Department of Veterans Affairs, his mother told investigators, according to a high-level source with the Atlanta Police Department.

But when doctors wouldn’t give him the anti-anxiety drug Ativan, Patterson got angry, his mother told CNN affiliate WSB. The suspect pulled a handgun and started firing, the Atlanta police source told CNN.