On Wednesday, a woman was killed and 4 others were wounded when a gunman opened fire in a waiting room in a hospital in Atlanta, southern United States.
According to the police, the shooter, who witnessed the "North Side" hospital on Wednesday afternoon local time, was named Deion Patterson, a former member of the Coast Guard, and he fled after the incident before he was arrested.
Police Chief Darin Schierbaum indicated that several agencies participated in the pursuit of Patterson, including the FBI and the Secret Security Service,
Schierbaum noted that it was too early to know whether any of the victims had been targeted in particular, pointing out that the suspect's family was cooperating with the investigation.
While the police chief said Patterson's mother was with him in the hospital waiting room and that she was not injured in the shooting, the American "CNN" network reported that Patterson became angry during a visit before he opened fire.
On its part, the White House announced that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were aware of the incident, and presidential spokeswoman Karen Jean-Pierre stressed the need to take further steps to face the violence the country is witnessing in its communities, schools, and churches, noting that the president's powers are restricted in this regard.
Since the beginning of this year, the US has recorded over 190 mass shootings, according to the Archives of Armed Violence. The country has the highest rate of gun-related deaths among "developed" countries: 49,000 in 2021, compared to 45,000 in the previous year.
According to AFP, the number of firearms in the US exceeds the population.
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