Midtown Shooting Affects Jewish Atlanta

While Northside Medical Midtown officially reopened on Monday, May 8, the Laureate Medical Group offices at the location where the May 3 deadly shooting occurred was still closed “while Laureate finalizes preparations to resume patient care.”

It was in the offices of Dr. Scott Kleber, a Jewish internist, where the shooting took place. One person was killed and four injured in the shooting. According to Northside Hospital, two of the shooting victims being treated at Grady Memorial Hospital are Northside employees who work at the Laureate Medical Group.

According to news reports, one is Jazzmin Daniel, who worked in Dr. Kleber’s reception office for about six months and is recovering from gunshot wounds in the abdomen. She was reportedly due to be transferred to another location soon.

Get The AJT Newsletter by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

The Fulton County Medical Examiners’ Office identified the deceased victim as 38-year-old Amy St. Pierre, an employee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The other shooting victims were identified by authorities as Lisa Glynn, Georgette Whitlow, and Alesha Hollinger – all women. The police say Glynn was shot in the abdomen, while Whitlow was shot in the arm and Hollinger was shot in the face.

Northside’s media and marketing team were not responding to inquiries, referring only to “updates” on its website. Dr. Kleber did tell AJT that “both employees and patients were affected” by the shooting, but he referred all questions to Northside. According to his website, Kleber, a graduate of the Emory University School of Medicine, has been involved with sports medicine for the Atlanta Hawks and with Georgia State University sports teams.

In its statement, Northside reported that returning employees and physicians were “being greeted” back to the hospital’s Midtown location by uniformed security officers, Northside spiritual leaders, human resources representatives, and behavioral and spiritual health counselors.” In addition, physicians were “encouraged to participate in a peer-to-peer support service, also being provided at Northside Midtown. The Caring for the Caregiver Support Group will be onsite and activated Wednesday, May 10.”

Patients of Laureate were being updated throughout the weekend following the shooting. According to that update, even Laureate offices in other parts of the city were closed following the attack. Other than Midtown, the other offices were to open at noon on Monday, May 8.

The shooter has been identified as Deion Patterson, 24.

Nearly a week after the shooting, the entire metropolitan Atlanta area was still recovering from the trauma of the shooting and police chase that started in Midtown on May 3. Atlanta Chief of Police Darin Schierbaum identified the alleged shooter as Deion Patterson, 24. According to news reports, his mother had taken him to a doctor at Northside Midtown to try to obtain a prescription for a drug to handle his anxiety. He had been a member of the U.S. Coast Guard until earlier this year and had previously sought care through Veterans Affairs.

After the shooting, which prompted a neighborhood lockdown, according to police, the alleged shooter stole a vehicle and drove to Cobb County. It was about eight hours after the shooting that Patterson was finally apprehended at a condominium in Cobb. He was charged with murder and four counts of aggravated assault.

Outside Grady Memorial Hospital, where the wounded were taken after the shooting, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Jansen reported that the patients were physically progressing but cited the longer-term emotional struggles in their future. Northside’s Spiritual Health team has been at Grady to provide counseling to the victims’ families.

The shooting victims range in age from 25 to 71. The Northside Hospital Foundation has established a fund to support those affected by the shooting.

Mass shootings are defined as at least four people shot. The Midtown Atlanta shooting was only one of several mass shootings in the U.S. recently. Just days later, a shooter killed eight people shopping at an outlet mall in a suburb of Dallas, Texas, and wounded several others.

A day after the Atlanta shooting, U.S. Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate to express both sorrow and anger at the federal government for not taking action to halt the growing threat of gun violence. Noting that his own two children were in Atlanta schools on lockdown during the shooting in Midtown, Warnock stated, “I rise today in shock and sorrow and in grief for my home state and, if I am honest, I rise really with a deep sense of anger about what is happening in our country in the area of gun violence and death.”

Warnock added that prayers are not enough, but that action is required. Congress had recently passed some gun safety legislation, but Warnock said it did not go far enough. “Shame on us if we allow this to happen and we do absolutely nothing,” he said.