ATLANTA (Reuters) – A gunman opened fire at a medical building in midtown Atlanta on Wednesday, killing a 39-year-old woman and wounding four others before carjacking a vehicle to flee, police said on Wednesday.
The suspect, identified as 24-year-old Deion Patterson, remained at large several hours after the 12:30 p.m. EDT shooting at Northside Medical, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at an afternoon news conference.
Schierbaum said the gun used in the shooting had not been recovered and that Patterson should be considered “armed and dangerous.”
All five victims slain or wounded in the attack were women. Schierbaum said it was too early in the investigation to determine if they had been deliberately targeted, or if they were patients or employees. The gunman arrived at the medical center with his mother, the chief said, but she was not injured.
The suspect fled the medical center following the gun rampage and carjacked a nearby driver to flee the scene, Schierbaum said. That car had later been recovered.
The chief asked for help from the public in finding the gunman but cautioned that citizens should not approach him.
Police posted four photographs of the suspect on Twitter. They showed a man in a doorway, his arm raised and pointing what appeared to be a handgun. His target was not visible in the photos.
The suspect had a mask over his face and nose and was wearing a sweatshirt and carrying a brown backpack.
The four wounded women, all of whom were adults, were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. Three victims were in critical condition and undergoing surgery while the fourth was being treated in the emergency room, the hospital’s chief medical officer, Robert Jansen, said during a news conference.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens advised people in the area to shelter in place during the shooting, and police cordoned off some streets in Midtown.
Atlanta Public Schools said several schools in the area would operate on external lockdown for the rest of the day as a precaution.
