2023-05-04 06:05:19
One person was killed and four injured in the southern US city of Atlanta on Wednesday when a gunman opened fire in a hospital waiting room, police said.
Police named Deion Patterson, a former Coast Guardsman, as the suspect in the shooting at Northside Hospital, which took place just after noon local time (5:00 p.m. GMT).
In a brief statement via his Facebook page, Atlanta police said that “Deion Patterson has been taken into custody.”
The victims are between the ages of 25 and 71, police said at a news conference on Wednesday. All are women, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said.
Patterson was accompanied by his mother in the hospital waiting room, who was not injured in the shooting, Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said. CNN reported that the man became “enraged” during a visit before opening fire.
Authorities released a photo of Patterson wearing dark pants, a hooded sweater and a white surgical mask.
The shooting caused the temporary closure of several schools near the hospital.
The White House said that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are already aware of the shooting. “Americans should be able to feel free to go to the store, to the church,” spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said.
More than 190 mass armed attacks – in which four or more people are killed or injured – have occurred in the United States this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
With more firearms than inhabitants, the country has the highest rate of gun-related deaths among developed countries: 45,000 in 2020 and more than 49,000 in 2021.
#person #dead #injured #armed #attack #Atlanta #hospital #USA