Police have captured the man suspected in a mass shooting in Atlanta that killed at least one person and injured at least four others.
Atlanta police identified the shooter as 24-year-old Deion Patterson. He was arrested about 11 miles from the scene in a condominium complex near Truist Park, where the Atlanta Braves play.
The mass shooting occurred at Northside Hospital’s midtown Atlanta location. Afterwards, police said the suspect fled the scene in a vehicle he hijacked a “short distance” from the crime scene.
It was the 188th mass shooting this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines the crime as four or more people killed or injured by gunfire.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens (D) called for gun reform after the suspect’s capture.
“I hope the city, the region, rests easy that he is in custody, but I also hope that we will stay vigilant to continue to look at a future where individuals who shouldn’t have a gun in possession won’t have one,” he said, “and also that individuals are brought to justice, and also that we deal with these things that are mental health or easy access to guns.”
During a news conference Wednesday afternoon Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said that all of the victims were women, ranging in age from 71 to 25. The victim who lost her life was 39 years old.
He added that Patterson’s family had been cooperating with the police department.
Police say Patterson was at Northside Hospital for an appointment. At some point he became agitated, according to police, and opened fire with a handgun.
Three of those injured in the shooting were in critical condition Wednesday, according to Grady Health System’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Jansen.
The Atlanta mass shooting occurred less than 24 hours after police captured a Cleveland, Texas man who’d been on the run since Friday, accused of fatally shooting five of his neighbors.
Between the Cleveland, Texas incident and the Atlanta incident five days later, the United States experienced 15 other mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
At the White House daily press briefing ahead of the suspect’s capture, spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said she would not speak directly to the incident in Atlanta as she did not have enough information to do so. However, she added, “Is the President frustrated about what we are seeing in our communities and our schools and our churches in this epidemic that we’ve seen, this gun violence epidemic? Yes, of course, he’s frustrated.”
