A suspect has been taken into custody after shots were fired near the Four Seasons Hotel in Atlanta, prompting parts of Atlanta to be told to shelter in place.
Jay Stevens Berger, 70, was arrested after police were dispatched to his room in the residential portion of the building to what was described as a mental health emergency, Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said Tuesday afternoon. It is now being investigated as an aggravated assault.
Berger, while armed with a handgun, had allegedly been involved in an altercation Tuesday morning with a Four Seasons employee, leading police to respond to the scene.
Employees of the hotel feared the man was armed and in the midst of a mental health crisis, prompting them to call police.
Atlanta police set up a security perimeter around the hotel around 3pm.
When Berger refused to leave his room on the 33rd floor, police started negotiating with him to “come out peacefully,” Schierbaum said. At some point, the suspect began firing at least three different weapons, including a handgun and a rifle, through walls and the door of the apartment as well as from the balcony. He also threw knives, police said.
One weapon was thrown off the balcony, the police chief confirmed.
Two of the officers fired during the exchange; one of those times was to “end a threat” so that no weapons could be fired off the balcony, he said.
Berger “eventually waved to police that he was giving up,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said Tuesday.
A SWAT team eventually breached the door and Berger was taken into custody. Both the suspect and a police officer have been taken to a hospital.
Officials said Berger had a wound to the head of unknown origin and the officer had non-life threatening injuries.
Berger and police fired roughly 15 shots during the standoff, 11Alive reports.
"We heard ten shots. We walked outside, got everything on camera – the man throwing couches, shooting – Very chaotic, very random. This is Atlanta. This is not a real place," bystander Khalil Hagans told Fox 5 Atlanta.
Dickens said that the suspect was wearing a mask, so they didn’t know what was on the other side of his door, such as chemical irritants.
Police found a rifle, a shotgun, multiple knives, and a handgun at the scene.
While the shelter-in-place order has been lifted, authorities urged people to avoid the area as the investigation ensues.
An hour earlier, those near the ritzy hotel were instructed “to avoid any windows and rooms facing the area,” the Atlanta Police Department warned in a statement. Surrounding roads are also closed, authorities said. “Out of an abundance of caution, units have set up a perimeter to safely investigate the matter.”
The Independent has reached out to Atlanta police for more information.
Berger is a physician license to practice opthalmology and has no previous felony arrest records in Fulton County, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the police use of force during the arrest.
