A man accused of opening fire when he decided he didn’t want to be held at a Cobb County mental health facility will continue to be held in jail.

Tevin McDonald faces multiple charges in connection with a November shooting at Ridgeview Mental Health Facility on South Cobb Drive in Smyrna.

A judge previously denied bond in the case, but McDonald's attorney said his client still needs mental health treatment, and asked for a bond Wednesday, Channel 2 Action News reported.

Tevin McDonald (Credit: Cobb County Sheriff’s Office)
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The 24-year-old knew he was having problems, Smyrna Det. Andrew Grubb said in court. Grubb also said McDonald’s mother, who drove him to Ridgeview Nov. 16, knew he regularly carried a gun.

“He had been acting strangely, staring off into the distance, talking to himself,” Grubb said. “She believed he was having a psychotic episode.”

Ridgeview doesn’t use a metal detector so only after a doctor determined McDonald needed to stay did officials at the facility bring out a wand to search McDonald, Channel 2 reported.

That’s when McDonald raised his gun at a staff worker’s head and shot his way out of the building and into a nearby wood line.

A bullet hole remained in the ceiling above where someone had been standing, Grubb told the court.

After considering the November incident and McDonald’s past, the judge ordered him held.

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