Shortly after his officers apprehended a man who shot five people Wednesday at an Atlanta medical complex, Cobb Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer had a lot of people to thank.
After naming names, and admitting he was probably forgetting to identify others, VanHoozer said one of the most crucial components in capturing the suspect was new technology.
Flock license plate readers identified the truck in Midtown Atlanta that Deion Patterson allegedly commandeered after his shooting spree, and Cobb DOT traffic cameras pinpointed his exact whereabouts in Cobb County as the afternoon turned into the evening.
Patterson, 24, was arrested around 8 p.m. without further harm to others, VanHoozer said at a press conference at Atlanta Police headquarters shortly after the arrest.
A 39-year-old woman at the Northside Hospital building in Midtown Atlanta was killed and four other women were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, three of them in critical condition.
“If you rewind the hands of time four years, we probably would not be where we are right now,” VanHoozer said of the license plate readers. “Those tools are really what got us the clues that we needed.”
Cobb and Atlanta police both use Flock license plate readers that are used to track cars and license plates, but only after a crime is committed.
VanHoozer said having the people “who know how to use” the technology was just as vital in Wednesday’s frantic search, and as a fluid, fast-developing situation evolved, police and emergency dispatch crews had to sift through a flurry of 911 calls and information.
“It was a fairly chaotic scene,” he said, referring to the vicinity around Truist Park and the Cumberland/Smyrna/Vinings area.
Atlanta Police said the Patterson left the Northside Medical building on West Peachtree Street on foot shortly after the shootings around noon, and walked to a nearby Shell station where he saw an unattended pickup truck with the engine running and drove it away.
Atlanta Police notified Cobb Police around 12:30 that they had received an LPR (license plate reader alert) that the truck was in Cobb County.
Shelter-in-place orders were given in many areas around Truist Park and The Battery, and Cobb’s Real-Time Crime Center staff fielded many calls from the community.
Cobb DOT also aided in the search by providing its camera feeds, which VanHoozer also credited with giving police a precise location of the suspect.
VanHoozer didn’t specify that location, but it was the Waterford Place condominiums in the Cumberland area, not far from where police found the pickup truck they said Patterson had driven from Atlanta. He was taken into custody without incident near a swimming pool after being confronted by an undercover officer.
Atlanta Police have not thus far released a possible motive for the shootings. Patterson was scheduled to have a medical appointment at the Northside Hospital building when gunfire erupted on the 11th floor.
Atlanta Police said the suspect was in the building for roughly two minutes after the shootings.
Patterson, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard and returned to civilian life in January, has been charged with one count of murder and four counts of aggravated assault.
He is being detained at the Fulton County jail’s medical observation unit and on Thursday waived his arraignment hearing.
“Hats off to everybody who was involved in this,” VanHoozer said of the search.
Related:
- Cobb Police capture Atlanta mass shooting suspect
- Man sentenced to 15 years for stalking Indian Hills woman
- East Cobb investment adviser pleads guilty to Ponzi scheme
- Cobb ‘crawling burglar’ indicted on 25 counts
- Suspect in murders of Cobb Sheriff’s deputies gets 2 life terms
- East Cobb man sentenced for child sexual exploitation
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
