Authorities are searching for the person who shot five people Wednesday at Northside Hospital Medical in Midtown Atlanta, killing one person and sending four others to the hospital, and then fleeing in a carjacked vehicle, police Chief Darin Schierbaum said Wednesday.
A 39-year-old woman died, Schierbaum said during a Wednesday afternoon news conference. The injured victims were also all women, ranging from 25 to 71 years old.
Authorities were called to the medical facility shortly after noon on Wednesday, the police chief said. The shooting occurred inside the facility’s waiting room, he added.
The suspect, whom authorities identified as 24-year-old Deion Patterson, fled the building after he opened fire and is believed to have carjacked a vehicle nearby, the police chief said.
He is still at large and there are active leads in Cobb County and in the city of Atlanta, Schierbaum said. Officers in Cobb County were searching in the areas of Vinings, Cumberland and Truist Park, according to a Twitter post from the Cobb County Police Department.
“We are working diligently to bring this individual into custody,” the police chief added.
The suspect is a former Coast Guardsman. Patterson “entered the Coast Guard in July 2018 and last served as an Electrician’s Mate Second Class,” a Wednesday statement from the Coast Guard said. “He was discharged from active duty in January 2023.”
The Coast Guard said they are working “closely” with Atlanta police and other authorities in the shooting investigation.
“Our deepest sympathies are with the victims and their families,” the statement said.
Three victims who were taken to Downtown’s Grady Memorial Hospital – Atlanta’s only Level 1 trauma center – remain in critical condition, and another patient is stable, the hospital said Wednesday afternoon.
Two of the critical patients were still undergoing surgery, one for a gunshot wound to the abdomen and the other for a wound to the arm, according to a hospital representative.
The third critical patient has a gunshot wound in the face and required an interventional radiology procedure, which is used to stop bleeding by means of catheters inserted directly into blood vessels.
Police issued a “be on the lookout” for the suspect saying he should be considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached.
The Atlanta Police Department earlier released images showing the suspected shooter wearing a hoodie, asking anyone with information about his whereabouts to call 911.
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