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Police: 1 Dead, At Least 4 Injured In Atlanta Shooting, Suspect At Large; Interview With State Sen. Josh McLaurin (D-Georgia) On Shooting; Police Identify Suspect As 24-Year-Old Deion Patterson; Dr. Sanjay Gupta Comments On Victims' Injuries; Carjacking Possibly Connected To Shooting, Car Found Abandoned In Cobb County; White House Press Secretary Comments On Atlanta Shooting. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired May 03, 2023 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: That they are allowing visitors and patients to come in, which would seem to indicate that at least in that area of the trauma center, police do not consider it a threat.

What we have not gotten from police in close to an hour or so is an update on the broader search for the suspect, who to our knowledge, is still at large.

We have our Juliette Kayyem here who used to be with the Department of Homeland Security.

Listening to the response, what stood out to you from him there as he updated on the shooting?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So a couple things that seem so normal now, and something you have to take a deep breath and realize a hospital leader is talking about their own mass casualty protocols.

These are put in place because these hospitals anticipate not a single victim or two victims. As the doctor said, they were expecting up to 12.

What does that means in lay person's terms? Depending on their expectation, they would have locked down the hospital.

It means you wouldn't have a change of shift. It means E.R. areas or rooms are prepared for, you know, 10, 12, 14 people to come in as you would lock down from visitors in this case. Since it's a smaller number, only four of the families have probably been identified. That's sort of what our protocols now are requiring that these places.

Now as the doctor said, it has been released and they are back to standard operating procedures because you simply didn't have the kind of violence they worried about when they got the first call. And that's how it works.

I mean, I talk to you seemingly every day so matter of fact about it. It's just this is the nature of a country that had to get response protocols professionalized across every business, hospital, school, university, you name it. We have to do it now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And, Juliette, one of the things that stands out as we're watching these pictures and these aerial pictures, I've seen buildings where I've had friends or co-workers that have lived there or hotels I've stayed in, in Atlanta. This is a bustling city.

Buildings with restaurants that certainly our co-workers have gone to for lunch or for dinner.

I want to go to State Senator Josh McLaurin. He's joining us on the phone. He's actually sheltering in place in a restaurant.

State Senator, if you could just speak to us a little bit about how that unfolded as you were there just having lunch in the area.

STATE SEN. JOSH MCLAURIN (D-GEORGIA) (via telephone): Hi, thanks. Good to be with you.

We're still here in the restaurant. It's directly next door to the Northside facility on West Peach Tree.

What happened for me is I was eating lunch with a friend catching up and, all of a sudden, people were walking around saying we're locked down, hey, there's an active shooter next door.

We didn't really get much information on the ground then. But we started checking news outlets and Twitter to find out what was happening and we got more information.

But, yes, we have been here for over an hour. There was a big police presence outside. There were more earlier, fire trucks and we saw SWAT teams running by. There are still some walking by this that I can see now. The area is still secure.

But, yes, a lot of uncertainty. And I have friends who have spouses that work in the building. I know there's a day care facility nearby.

It's amazing to think of the tens of thousands of people affected by this and whose lives have been put on hold unexpectedly.

KEILAR: What kind of updates are you getting? Are there any expectations about what is ahead here for you and all of those folks sheltering in place?

MCLAURIN: The last guidance we got was we're still on lockdown, a strong police presence outside.

The whereabouts of the shooter is still unknown as far as we know. I asked, Atlanta officer, do you know where he is? Not yet. That's just another layer on top of all of this, just the lingering uncertainty.

I had plans for the rest of my day, and not to make light of anything else, a lot of people going through much worse, I think everyone affected by this. It shakes up your whole day and makes you wonder, how are we supposed to live like this in general? KEILAR: And this is a bustling city and this is the most bustling part

of it. The police don't know where the suspect is. They haven't located him. If you can stay with us for a second, Senator, there is some information about who the suspect may be?

Is that correct?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The Atlanta police just sent out a tweet identifying the suspect and giving his date of birth. He appears to be a 24-year-old man named Deion Patterson.

We want to go back to Ryan Young, who is live for us just outside of the medical center --

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: -- where the shooting took place.

Ryan, what are you seeing?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean --

[14:35:04]

SANCHEZ: Ryan Young, are you there?

YOUNG: Hey, Boris. Yes, I'm sorry. I didn't hear you. I was getting some information on another call at the same. It's a lot going on. You understand it's still happening live.

We're told not only do they have the suspect's driver's license. So there's going to be a better picture that might come out pretty soon of his face. So, we're hope fog get that clear and put out to the public so he won't be able to change, probably his beard at this point or what his actual characteristics look like.

Even though it's a great picture of him in the elevator, it's not going to be the same as the images they can put out in a short period of time.

Since this time, we've seen almost a softening on certain parts of the perimeter on the outside. Almost more of a defensive stance.

You guys were just at the Grady Hospital. They're the only number one trauma center in the area. So they're used to dealing with gunshot victims.

And the way they stood that up, because they didn't know how many people were coming at first, it shows how prepared people were in terms of dealing with an active-shooter situation.

And now we've heard additional update about the victims and how some of the people are still in critical condition.

From there, though, there have been a lot of phone calls not only into the police department but to other buildings in this area about folks they saw that were suspicious. Those phone calls seem to be dropping off now.

I actually talked to a supervisor who -- and once the police put out the image. And once the police put out the image, they realized the hoodies didn't match.

You understand sort of the fear that's involved in this entire area. Because everybody is looking for a man in a hoodie, which is, quite honestly, on a day like this, there are a lot of people wearing hoodies.

As you think about it and there are people sheltering, at these hotels and restaurants, as you heard the state Senator, you can understand how people are concerned just about the general area and their safety.

When you have a man running around with a camera bag and a gun who has already shot people, there's concern on where he may be. And that's the point we are right now.

SANCHEZ: Ryan, we'll let you get back to those important phone calls to sources to bring us more details.

I do want to ask John Miller, CNN's chief law enforcement and intel analyst, who is still with us.

John, this suspect fits a description that we've seen very often in these kinds of mass shootings. He's a young man, about 24, and he has a military background.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT & INTEL ANALYST: So the military background is obviously concerning because it means he has weapons training, he has tactics training, and that makes him, you know, capable and formidable, depending on how his encounter goes when police find him or catch up to him.

That's something they're going to have to be thinking about. He's been trained to shoot, he's been trained to shoot accurately, he's been trained to shoot under pressure.

SANCHEZ: And further, he has had apparently a history with mental illness, according to the reporting. His mother attending this appointment with him today, in part, because, according to sources, his family was concerned for his wellbeing.

SCIUTTO: To that point, John Miller, this would be a case, then, where - if Ryan's reporting and the police understanding of this is correct.

As Ryan was reporting, the police telling him that his mother was concerned about his mental state and took him to the hospital there for evaluation. Something happened there, not clear what agitated him. And then he ended up firing his weapon.

Among all your years you served with police, that's something police encourage folks to do, if they're concerned about a loved one or someone they know well.

MILLER: Well, and that's a very difficult thing for families, to bring someone in to try and get a mental health evaluation.

And as you've already pointed out, we don't know what happened in that evaluation, whether they told him they wanted to get him into an inpatient situation, that might have rattled him, whether just his presence there further agitated him.

But we know we have a mother struggling with an adult child who she had concern for, that she brought him to professionals.

And, again, as you pointed out, when you look at these pictures, you know, he came armed, he came with that satchel strapped to his front, and he came ready to react.

So clearly, he was suffering from whatever distress she was concerned about and then apparently more and willing to act out.

[14:40:03]

KEILAR: Yes, certainly.

And I do now -- John, if you could stand by for us, I want to bring in Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay, as we set up your shot to bring you in here, we were just listening to Dr. Robert Jansen, the chief medical officer there at Grady Hospital.

You heard what he said, four victims brought to Grady, three of them critical. We're talking about some very serious injuries here. What did you glean from what you heard?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, I can tell you that those are the same numbers that we're hearing. As you know, Brianna, the faculty at Emory University, which covers, provides surgical coverage to Grady.

So we heard, like everybody else, that there was a possibility of a mass casualty incident. We're a level one trauma center, which means there's always these surgical subspecialists available in house, operating ready to go, blood is available to all that might need it, all those types of things that make for really, really fast triage and care of trauma patients.

But, you know, the numbers, even at the hospital, sometimes we're just getting information as it's coming in. So there's all this prep going in and basically see what sort of unfolds.

We knew that there were a couple of patients who went straight to the operating room. As it turns out, just to give you a little bit behind the scenes of a neurosurgeon, I will have awareness. But if there's not patients who require neurosurgical procedures, obviously we're not called in, but our operating room may be put on hold.

Because we don't know what's happening. There could be more patients that need to take up that operating room space. He was sort of outlining that. But that is the sort of nature, as Ryan

Young was saying, of being not only a number one trauma center but the only one. You know those patients are coming to you and you go into full-on preparatory mode.

I can tell you, quickly, the number of patients that we've seen is obviously -- this is a really scary and sad situation. But this number of patients is not unusual at all for Grady to suddenly have an influx of a few, four of five patients, with gunshot wounds. That happens on a typical weekend in Atlanta.

SCIUTTO: Sanjay, can you -- the doctor said three out of the four are critical. Can you just define critical for us so people know. Two in the operating room and one of them was taken to emergency radiology. So I imagine a scan to see the extent of damage.

But "critical" in layman's terms?

GUPTA: Critical, yes. In need of emergent care. It doesn't necessarily mean that someone is unstable.

We often talk about serious, critical and then unstable, stable. You can be critical and in stable condition. You need urgent care but your blood pressure is not falling, you're not sort of developing problems with your heart that could put you, you know, in a much more unstable sort of situation.

So it's what it sounds like. It's critical. The patient needs to have emergent care. Is probably going to need significant care after an operation or procedure.

As you mentioned, Jim, and Dr. Jansen mentioned, two people went to the operating room. Another patient getting what is known as endovascular care. What that means is that a blood vessel has been injured. They don't know what blood vessel.

But it's been determined that instead of doing an operation to go and repair that blood vessel directly, you could thread catheters into the area of that blood vessel and essentially seal or stop the bleeding using those sorts of techniques.

That's what typically happens in an endovascular situation. And it can be really effective. It can be effective in accomplishing what they're trying to accomplish.

Trauma care is A, B, C -- air way, breathing and circulation. Circulation means, you know, stopping bleeding, ensuring you have adequate circulation. And that's where endovascular procedures can help.

SCIUTTO: Sanjay, please stand by.

We want to bring in Nick Valencia who has new pertinent information as we watch what's unfolding in downtown Atlanta.

Nick, what are you hearing from police? NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Boris. We just got to the scene

here. We're on 12th and Peach Tree. Still an active scene. Filled with first responders and media.

The Atlanta Police Department just releasing a statement identifying the suspect as Deion Patterson, 24 years old.

And they also include in this report that there was a carjacking almost immediately after the shooting. They say it happened on 14th and Williams, very nearby the original CNN headquarters. If you're familiar with the Atlanta area, that's near the adult swim headquarters.

They say there was a carjacked on 14th and Williams Street. And the car has been recovered in Cobb County, about 25, 30 minutes away from the city center.

[14:45:03]

They're working to determine whether or not the carjacking was connected to the shooting in any way. But they have put that out as part of their investigation.

Just to reiterate, they're I.D.ing the suspect, 24-year-old Deion Patterson. As well as saying a carjacking happened almost immediately after the shooting. That car recovered in Cobb County. And they're working to determine what the connection was to this shooting -- Boris?

SCIUTTO: John Miller shared that earlier. The information at the time was that the clothing --

SANCHEZ: The description.

SCIUTTO: The description, again, these are eyewitness descriptions, in the moment they can change but the details of clothing appear to be different from the image we had. But again, these are all first drafts.

SANCHEZ: One of many, many potential leads police are probably getting in as they hunt for the suspect.

To that point, let's go to Jonathan Wackrow now.

Because, Jonathan, you've covered so many of these incidents, I imagine as police are sifting through all of that data, it has to be challenging to figure out what's connected and what's not.

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: No, absolutely, Boris. And this new information where there's a vehicle, a carjacking, the vehicle was located, you know, some distance away from the hospital, only signals how complicated this is for law enforcement, right?

Because they had an initial area that they were focused on. Now very quickly that suspect may have fled quite a distance away. So law enforcement in another jurisdiction now has to really adjudicate whether or not the vehicle was connected to the shooter.

Again, it speaks to the necessity of coordination of law enforcement personnel.

One thing I want to highlight that I think is really important is the Atlanta police have a very robust public and private partnership. What we're seeing now is the activation of that relationship actually yield some benefits.

It allows for communication across law enforcement entities as well as private stakeholder groups. Those private stakeholder groups are corporate partners, organizations, building managers.

It allows for information about this suspect, about the danger, about the threat to be disseminated quickly and effectively so that everyone is aware of what the situation is.

More importantly, though, also this public-private partnership also has a video integration center. The Atlanta PD also have access to police cameras but also access to private cameras.

That allows for incidents like this to be managed very quickly so that law enforcement has a better viewpoint in how to send assets to different locations to identify whether there's a suspect located or identification of a potential suspect.

A lot of this stuff is coming together in real time. We have a front- row seat to what's going on. Again, this will - hopefully, we'll have a suspect in custody shortly.

KEILAR: Of course, we're looking for that.

I do want to get to Ryan Young. He's been there on the scene and talking to sources.

Ryan, I understand you are there with someone who was a witness. What can you tell us?

YOUNG: Well, he's actually a construction worker, working at a site nearby. This is Eddie.

As you can understand, as you can see how he was dressed, there was some confusion at some point whether or not Eddie might have been the suspect at some point.

You're at work. Kind of explain to all of us what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDDIE MWANGI, WORKING CONSTRUCTION NEARBY: I was at work and the foreman told us he was going to lock down the building. He said either get out real quick or you get locked inside.

A couple of us ran out and ran to the parking garage and tried to get our cars and got out. While we were in there, SWAT team rushed in. One guy was able to get out. The rest of us were blocked in. And the officers came up to me and asked for my I.D. and pulled guns

on me. And I guess the suspect looked like me -- except had a mask on. But after that, everything was cleared up.

They took me out of my car. They took us to an adjacent building. In there, there were a whole lot of nurses crying, who had just witnessed the situation that just occurred.

One officer gave us a briefing of everything that happened. After that, you know, I walked out.

YOUNG: What was it like to see those nurses in that shock, in that pain in that room at this that point?

MWANGI: It was sad. It was surreal. You see it on TV but you never really think it's going to happen to you. That was surreal.

YOUNG: I was glad you didn't take it personally. You saw the picture so you understood how they may have thought it was you.

Explain how surreal that was. You do have someone with the same color scheme on.

[14:50:00]

MWANGI: According to the description, he looked just like me, and was actually in the same parking garage I was at. I could understand why they thought it was me. I don't take offense to that at all. As long as they get the guy.

YOUNG: How is this when you stand back and realize you were so close to a shooting, you are just at work. What is that impact like as you've been thinking about what this day has been like?

MWANGI: I mean, it makes you watch every little thing that you do. You never know when it's going to be your last, you know? That was just scary.

YOUNG: Eddie, I really appreciate it.

One last question before you go, because I think people will want to know what that room sounded like with those nurses because you are the first person I've been able to talk to that was inside the room.

What was it like when you walked in and saw those people in that office so upset?

MWANGI: I mean, it was pretty sad. I mean, I couldn't imagine what they were going through. They actually saw the guy, you know, might have even seen the victims that were shot. I mean, I feel for them and my heart goes out to them.

YOUNG: I really appreciate you for stopping, my brother. Thank you so much. Thank you for talking to us.

That was Eddie, who was obviously talking, who was inside after having that situation happen. He's wearing that gray, he has that hoodie, so you can understand why that may have been stopped by officers.

Again, to go along with some of the information that we're also learning is now there's that scare that there may have been a carjacking nearby. I was talking to a source that this person may have left this entire area. So that's something they're also working with at this point.

So, again, this all comes down to all those phone calls, all those 911 calls in this entire area to sort of put this together.

But then you have a man like this who was obviously dressed, he was coming out, he was working, he is an electrician and he was trying to come out of that parking garage.

Remember, guys, when I talked to you about an hour ago, I told you what they were concerned about is the multiple levels of parking garages in this area and there's more than seven of them just in this general two-block area.

So obviously they could probably see that person moving toward one of those parking garages on that security camera and that's why blocking off some of these roadways to get a nice little pocket around here so people couldn't get out would be so super important to the police department.

There was an active -- a smaller team of officers who first arrived here who were manhunting the man from the second they arrived. So you can feel how they were thinking before the SWAT team arrived.

When the SWAT team arrived and all the extra personnel, they were able to make that perimeter wider and wider and wider. So that's what we're dealing with right now.

But now you have to be concerned about the idea of that carjacking that may have someone far away. Suspect's mother helping and talking, that may help.

We're also working on an image of the suspect's face that is a little clearer that hopefully we will be able to bring to you in the next few minutes.

Because, obviously, getting that clear picture would help people understand who he looks like so you don't have an Eddie situation where someone sees someone who is dressed similar and pulls the wrong guy over.

SCIUTTO: Ryan Young, thanks so much.

And to your point, this is a new picture provided, we should note, by the Atlanta Police Department of the suspect in this shooting in Atlanta. His name, again, as provided by the Atlanta Police Department, Deion Patterson. As of 2:46 p.m., six minutes ago, still at large.

And this is what we know about the victims of this. Police have confirmed one deceased, one victim deceased, four others wounded, three of whom were described by a doctor at the trauma center as being in critical condition.

We're getting information as it comes. We have to acknowledge as this information comes in that it's early versions of what we know here.

One, about a carjacking. When our John Miller mentioned that a short time ago, he noted that police had said the carjacking was not successful. So it's not clear that the suspect has necessarily left the area. We just don't know.

But police have said they don't know where he is, right? So they're still searching.

SANCHEZ: Still a very active situation.

On that note of the carjacking, John Miller, sharing that it didn't exactly match the description of the person in the pictures. Could the suspect have potentially changed clothes? We don't know yet.

But, again, as Jim pointed out, it is still very early on in this process. As we are awaiting word on the status of the victims and perhaps word on exactly where the suspect is, where police believe he may be located.

[14:54:19]

SCIUTTO: We're going to continue to follow developments in this ongoing story, active-shooter situation in Atlanta. And we will be back after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: We're following this ongoing breaking news coming to us out of Atlanta. There is a suspect still at large in this shooting.

At least five people shot, four injured. One was pronounced dead at the scene there at a medical office. Four at Grady Hospital, three of whom are in critical condition we have learned.

And now, just moments ago, Atlanta police providing this photo of the suspect. His name, Deion Patterson, 24 years old. He is considered armed and dangerous.

We know, at this point, that police do not know where he is. They have not located him.

And much of this area of midtown Atlanta is still on shutdown. Shelter in place for restaurants, people who are living there in condos and apartments. There are schools and day cares in the area, hotels, office buildings. This is a very busy area.

I do want to go to some sound that is coming from the White House because the White House press secretary just addressed this. Let's listen.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We're monitoring the situation. We will have more information. It's an ongoing, very fluid situation as far as I understand. I don't know what else has occurred since we've been out here.

I want to tell the public that we urge them to heed guidance from officials and keep themselves safe. Please keep yourselves safe as this -- as this situation continues.

[14:59:56]

So just want to be very clear about this, and don't want to speak to this directly because we just don't know exactly what is -- what is -- I mean, I know there is a shooting but we don't have all of the information, it's very fluid.