“Atlanta Hospital Shooting: One Killed and Four Injured, Suspect Arrested”

By Le Figaro with AFP

Published on 04/05/2023 at 02:33update on 05/04/2023 at 07:17

A person opened fire on Wednesday May 3 in an Atlanta hospital, killing one and injuring four before fleeing and being arrested after a few hours, according to the police of this large city in the southern United States. United. The suspect was identified by Atlanta police as Deion Patterson, a former Coast Guard officer. The shots took place around noon (4:00 p.m. GMT) in a waiting room of a hospital in the city. “Deion Patterson has been apprehended”Atlanta police said in a short statement on their Facebook page in the evening.

The victims are between 25 and 71 years old, police said during a press conference earlier. All of the victims were women, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said. Deion Patterson was accompanied by his mother, who was not injured, said the police chief, noting that it is too early to know if one or more victims were specifically targeted. His family is cooperating with the investigation.

The United States pays a very heavy price the spread of firearms on their territory and the ease with which Americans have access to them. The country has more individual weapons than inhabitants: one in three adults owns at least one weapon and nearly one in two adults lives in a home where there is a weapon. The consequence of this proliferation is the very high rate of firearm deaths in the United States, without comparison with that of other developed countries.