Atlanta mass shooting – latest: Midtown attack victim named as suspect charged with murder after manhunt

The woman who was killed during a mass shooting in Atlanta on Wednesday was a worker at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the agency.

Amy St Pierre, 38, was killed after Deion Patterson, 24, allegedly open fired in the waiting room of the Northside Hospital in Midtown Atlanta.

He allegedly shot Ms St Pierre and wounded four other women. Ms St Pierre died at the scene, according to police.

The other women who were wounded are Lisa Glynn, Georgette Whitlow, Jazzmin Daniel, and Alesha Hollinger, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, citing Mr Patterson’s charging papers. They are reportedly still in critical condition, according to Grady Health Chief Medical Officer Dr Robert Jansen.

READ MORE:

Deion Patterson, the suspect in the mass shooting that left one woman dead and four others wounded in Midtown Atlanta on Wednesday, has been denied bail.

Fulton County Magistrate Judge Holly Hughes made the decision on Thursday after Mr Patterson waived his right to be present for her ruling.

She ordered he remain in custody on one murder charge and four counts of aggravated assault.

A doctor working at Northside Hospital recalls hiding during the mass shooting in the facility’s waiting room before he emerged and began to assist with the wounded.

Scott Kleber, 62, who was just outside the waiting room during the shooting, said he waited for a few minutes after the shooting before poking his head out to survey the damage. He recalled the grisly scene to the Washington Post.

“We hunkered down for a few minutes, and I cracked open my door. I hear a cry for help from the waiting room. You can’t let someone who needs help not get help,” Dr Kleber said. “I open the door carefully and gently and I did not see a shooter, but I saw three bodies — three injured. One [had] a gunshot wound to the head. That was near the front desk. She was motionless, and it was pretty clear she succumbed to her gunshot wound. There was a lot of blood from her head.”

He recalled finding a staff member who worked the front desk hiding in a back room with a bullet wound to her abdomen.

“She is breathing and conscious with a bullet wound from her front abdomen through her back, a through-and-through gunshot wound,” he said. “And there is another employee, who appears to have a graze wound, offering comfort to her co-worker.”

Dr Kleber said he reassured the injured woman.

“I listened to her lungs. I told her, ‘EMS is coming. Hold tight. People are going to take care of you.’”

Despite his actions, he insisted that he “is not a hero.”

Minyone Patterson, the mother of Atlanta mass shooting suspect Deion Patterson, said her son began shooting after he had a mental health break brought on by issues with his medication. She has asked the public not to brush aside the troubles faced by individuals facing severe mental illness.

“Don’t disregard them,” she told CNN affiliate WANF. “I’m trying to advocate for my son. Just be careful.”

Another shooting at a public place has taken place in Georgia.

A gunman is at large after opening fire inside a Georgia McDonald’s causing “multiple” casualties, reports say.

Police are investigating the incident which took place in Moultrie, Georgia, around three hours south of Atlanta, and there are multiple crime scenes, according to The Moultrie Observer.

Moultrie police and Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents are probing fatal incidents at Moultrie’s McDonald’s restaurant and a residence on Sixth Street Southwest, reported the newspaper.

READ MORE:

Ms St Pierre’s family offered the following statement to The Independent.

“Our beloved Amy was brilliant, kind, big-hearted and simply the ‘best of the best’. An Emory honors graduate and Georgia State MBA, Amy traveled the world with curiosity and courage. She was driven by compassion, both in her work in the field of maternal mortality, and in her everyday life. Amy was selfless always, she wanted more for others but never for herself. Generous supporter of worthy causes, she was the social conscience of our family.”

“Loving wife and mother of two, middle sister to two brothers, and cherished daughter, she was truly our pride and joy. Amy’s friends are the best reflection of the person she was. Their outpouring of tears, love and support are beyond measure.”

“She will be missed but never, ever forgotten.”

They have asked for privacy and said they will not be making further comment.

Director Rochelle Walensky said the CDC suffered a “tremendous loss” after Amy St Pierre, who worked at the agency, was killed in a mass shooting in Midtown Atlanta on Wednesday.

“Amy was a valued member of our team at the Division of Reproductive Health where she worked every day to save the lives of mothers and infants,” Dr. Walensky told the Senate Health Committee. “Our hearts are with her, her family, friends and our colleagues as they remember her and grieve this tragic loss.”

Wednesday’s mass shooting in Atlanta is the latest in a wave of gun violence across the US.

There have been at least 190 mass shootings in the US this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Suspected gunman Deion Patterson used a handgun in Wednesday’s horror attack at a hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.

The 24-year-old Coast Guard veteran was attending an appointment at the Northside Hospital building in midtown Atlanta when he allegedly opened fire with a handgun inside a waiting room on the 11th floor, police said.

It is not currently clear whether he legally owned the handgun and – if so – when it was purchased.