A suspect who wreaked havoc on the city of Atlanta after committing a mass shooting on Wednesday has been arrested after an hours-long manhunt.
Police arrested Deion Patterson around 8:00 p.m. after tracking him throughout the city following the senseless shooting that left one woman dead and four injured. The carnage unfolded inside a waiting room in Midtown’s Northside Hospital Medical building in the early afternoon. As he waited for an appointment of some kind, the 24-year-old seemingly became agitated and began firing at people in the waiting area. A 39-year-old woman was killed, while the remaining victims were transported for treatment nearby. Patterson then fled in a stolen vehicle and remained on the run most of the day. The vehicle’s license plate was spotted on camera in the Cobb County area around 12:30 p.m. Still, officials in that jurisdiction were not alerted until around 2:30 p.m., meaning the suspect could have been in the area for a full two hours before anyone knew. Shortly before 3:00 p.m., his photo began circulating on the news, with citizens urged to steer clear of him and call police if he was spotted.
As of now, there is no motive behind the murders. The former Coast Guardsman appeared to shoot at random, but that also has not been confirmed. Nearby buildings and schools remained locked down this afternoon as police desperately searched for Patterson. His mother, Minyone Patterson, began cooperating with the investigation early on and blamed local VA doctors for prescribing her son the incorrect medication.
“The damn VA gave him some messed up medication. And all he wanted was an Ativan,” she reportedly told The Daily Beast before hanging up. Ativan is a medication used to treat anxiety. It’s unclear how long he might have been seeking help. Karen Henderson, Patterson’s aunt, also spoke with The Daily Beast following the shooting. She said while she hadn’t seen her nephew in a while, his actions were a complete shock to her.
