Christy Colwell knew there was a massive search underway for a man accused of opening fire inside a Midtown Atlanta medical office Wednesday afternoon, killing one woman and injuring four others. What she didn’t know was that he was hiding out inside her otherwise quiet condominium community not far from Truist Park.
Waterford Place residents said Cobb County police initially responded to their neighborhood to check out a report of barking dogs. Colwell, an executive assistant, directed the officers toward the neighborhood pool, washhouse and gazebo down the hill, tucked deep into the woods.
“I thought that would be a great place for someone to hide out until dark,” she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Ten seconds later, (police) came running back to us, told us to get on the grass, and then all of a sudden there were 30 police cars all heading down there.”
Deion Duwane Patterson, 24, waived his first court appearance Thursday morning at the Fulton County Jail. The accused gunman faces a murder charge and four counts of aggravated assault in Wednesday’s attack at the Northside Hospital medical building on West Peachtree Street.
He did not appear in court after waiving the hearing.
The U.S. Coast Guard veteran was taken into custody just before 8 p.m. Wednesday, bringing an end to the sprawling multi-agency manhunt that began eight hours earlier in the heart of bustling Midtown.
Patterson had an appointment at the Northside Medical Midtown facility, which primarily houses doctor’s offices, Atlanta police Deputy Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said. While a motive has not been disclosed, witnesses in the Laureate Medical Group’s office on the 11th floor said the man opened fire in a waiting room after being told he arrived too late to be seen.
Amy St. Pierre, 38, was killed, her husband confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She was an employee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Four other women, ages 71, 56, 39 and 25, were rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital. Two of the surviving victims were still listed in critical condition Thursday afternoon, hospital officials said. The other two women were said to be stable. They were identified in court documents as Lisa Glynn, Georgette Whitlow, Jazzmin Daniel and Alesha Hollinger.
Patterson was gone by the time police arrived at the medical facility shortly after noon. According to police, investigators believe he ran from the building, “commandeered” an unattended pickup truck near 14th and Williams streets and made his way into Cobb.
The vehicle was later recovered from the area near The Battery, just under a mile from the condo community where police eventually caught up with Patterson, authorities said.
Since his arrest, Patterson has been tightlipped but cooperative with authorities inside the Fulton jail, where he is being held in the medical observation wing by himself, said Fulton Sheriff Patrick Labat.
“He has exercised his right to not say anything,” Labat said after highlighting high-tech changes he is making at the jail to boost security. “He is not combative. He is really keeping to himself.”
Patterson is being held in the medical observation part of the jail, Labat added, “for closer observation.”
“What history has taught us is the first 48 hours of incarceration can be sometimes the most thought-provoking,” the sheriff said. “They go through different emotions. Anything of this magnitude — we want to keep a close eye on it.”
The sheriff noted that his office has experience dealing with high-profile cases and is used to operating in the glare of the national news media spotlight.
“We are built for this,” he said. “We don’t relish the national attention, but we understand we have a job to do.”
A video obtained by Channel 2 Action News showed the moment Patterson was taken into custody near the community’s pool.
Credit: WSBTV Videos
In the video, the suspect appears to be on his knees and with his hands on the ground as armed officers line up behind him. He eventually lies face down on the grass and officers slowly approach him to put him in handcuffs.
Colwell’s neighbor, Alfonso Kiwi, said he saw officers apprehend the suspect before police told him to leave the scene.
“I saw them grab him and they had him down,” Kiwi said. “All day, I’ve been thinking about this guy, and here he is in our backyard.”
— Staff writers Shaddi Abusaid and Caroline Silva contributed to this article.
