Washington (AFP) - One person was killed and four were injured in the southern US city of Atlanta on Wednesday when a gunman opened fire in a hospital waiting room, police said.
Police named Deion Patterson, a former member of the Coast Guard, as the suspect in the shooting at the Northside Hospital, which occurred just after noon local time (1700 GMT).Patterson was still at-large as of Wednesday afternoon.
"The suspect is believed to be armed and dangerous and should not be approached," the Atlanta Police Department said on social media.
Victims ranged between the ages of 25 and 71, police said at a news conference later Wednesday afternoon.All were women, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens noted.
"We have been joined by multiple jurisdictions," in the search for Patterson, said police chief Darin Schierbaum, including the FBI and the Secret Service.
Patterson had been accompanied in the hospital waiting room by his mother, who was not injured in the shooting, Schierbaum said.CNN reported he became "enraged" during a visit before opening fire.
It was too soon to know if any of the victims were targeted specifically, Schierbaum added.The suspect's family is cooperating with the investigation, he said.
Authorities published a photo of Patterson, wearing dark pants, a hood over his head and a white surgical mask, wielding a handgun.
Television footage showed police and other law enforcement officers deployed at the scene.Multiple ambulances were also present.
The shooting sent several schools near the hospital into temporary lockdown.
"Out of an abundance of caution, we have dispatched officers at every school for today's dismissal," Atlanta Public Schools announced on its website once the lockdowns were lifted.
The White House said President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had been briefed on the shooting.Spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the president's hands were tied on "more steps to deal with the violence that we're seeing in our communities or schools or churches."
"American people should be able to feel free to go into a grocery store, to go to church," Jean-Pierre said.
There have been more than 190 mass shootings -- defined as four or more people wounded or killed -- so far this year in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
With more firearms than inhabitants, the United States has the highest rate of gun-related deaths of any developed country: 49,000 in 2021, up from 45,000 the year before.
