Victims identified in Midtown shooting as calls for stronger gun control continue

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The woman killed in the May 3 shooting at the Northside Hospital Midtown medical office building has been identified as Amy St. Pierre, 38, an employee with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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The woman killed in the May 3 shooting at the Northside Hospital Midtown medical office building has been identified as Amy St. Pierre, 38, an employee with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“CDC is deeply saddened by the unexpected loss of a colleague killed … in the Midtown Atlanta shooting,” CDC spokesperson Benjamin N. Haynes told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Our hearts are with her family, friends, and colleagues as they remember her and grieve this tragic loss.”

Four other woman were shot at the building, located at 1110 West Peachtree St., and are hospitalized at Grady Memorial Hospital. Three are in critical condition. The AJC identified the women as Lisa Glynn, Georgette Whitlow, Jazzmin Daniel and Alesha Hollinger.

Deion Patterson, 24, was arrested in Cobb County at about 8 p.m. after an hours-long manhunt by numerous local, regional, state and federal law enforcement agencies. 

Patterson is in the Fulton County Jail. The Atlanta Police Department has charged him with murder and aggravated assault, according to online jail records.

The May 3 mass shooting was the second in Midtown in less than a year. In August, APD said Raissa Kengne, 34, killed two people and wounded another. 

This week’s shooting spurred several Atlanta and Georgia Democrats, including Mayor Andre Dickens and U.S. Senators Ralph Warnock and Jon Ossoff, to offer condolences to the victims and their loved ones as well as praise local law enforcement for capturing the suspect. 

They all called for stronger gun control measures. 

“We cannot accept mass shootings as normal in our country. We know it does not have to be this way,” Dickens said in a news release titled “Open Letter on Atlanta Shooting.”

“Other nations have challenges with mental health, but they don’t have this level of gun violence that we do in America,” the mayor said.

Mayor Andre Dickens called for gun control during a press conference after police apprehended Midtown shooting suspect Deion Patterson. 

“We are doing all that we can as a city to bring down violent crime,” Dickens said. “We are investing in our police and fire personnel and making sure they have the equipment and training they need. And we are investing in non-policing activities, like violence interruption and youth engagement, that enhance safety in our community and address the root causes of crime. Those investments are working. Violent crime in Atlanta is significantly down over this time last year.

“But we need to do more,” Dickens said. “We need national action to change the way we treat mental health. And we need action that keeps guns out of the hands of people who should not have them.

“It’s the guns,” Dickens said.

“While we respect the rights conveyed by the 2nd Amendment, we also need more actions to protect the rights of our citizens to go about their lives — to go to a doctor’s office, a supermarket, a gas station, their school — without the threat of being gunned down.”

Sen. Warnock, who said his two children were on lockdown in their Atlanta schools because of the shootings, called on Congress to curb the nation’s gun violence during remarks on the U.S. Senate floor.

“My own two children were on lockdown this afternoon. I have two small children, and their schools are on lockdown responding to this tragedy,” Warnock said. “They are there, I’m here hoping and praying that they are safe. But the truth is, none of us is safe.

“In fact, it is a contradiction to say that you are thinking and praying and then do nothing,” Warnock said. “It is to make a mockery of prayer. It is to trivialize faith. We pray not only with our lips, we pray with our legs. We pray by taking action.” 

Warnock said, “Mass shootings as routine is not the cost of freedom. It is the cost of blind obstinance.”

“The people’s voices have been squeezed out of their democracy. And there’s a growing chasm between what the people actually want and what they can get from their government,” he said.

“I’m pleading, I’m begging all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to remember the covenant that we have with one another as an American people to stand up in this defining moment and do everything we can to protect all of us and certainly all of our children.”
 

Sen. Jon Ossoff in a written statement said, “The level of gun violence in America today is unconscionable and unacceptable, and policymakers at all levels have a responsibility to ensure public safety and implement long-overdue reforms.”

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp released a statement on social media about the shooting late Wednesday, asking for prayers for the victims and their loved ones. He also praised law enforcement for arresting the suspect.

“We are heartbroken by today’s tragedy in Midtown Atlanta and join all Georgians in praying for those impacted and their loved ones,” Kemp said.

“We’re also thanking God for the brave local and state law enforcement who responded forcefully and without hesitation. Thanks to their efforts, the shooter is now in custody and will face justice,” he said.

“These heroes demonstrated yet again their professionalism, courage, and unwavering dedication to protecting their fellow Georgians,” Kemp said. “With public safety partners like them on all levels, we remain vigilant against such acts of heartless violence in our communities.”