ATLANTA — The suspect who was barricaded inside the Four Seasons building in midtown Atlanta is now in custody, police have confirmed.
Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum says that one officer was injured in the incident and at least two officers fired their weapons. The injured officer is being taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment, but is expected to recover.
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Schierbaum says that they were called to the residential portion of the building just after 10 a.m. for a mental health episode after the man had been involved in an altercation with a building employee.
Sources confirmed to Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes that a man pulled a gun on someone on a high floor inside the hotel.
Officers tried negotiating with the man, later identified as 70-year-old Jay Steven Berger, to get him to leave his residence on the 33rd floor.
When they learned Berger may have had more weapons inside the residence, SWAT teams were called to the area and residents on the 32nd, 33rd and 34th floors were evacuated from the building.
Throughout the incident, Atlanta police say at least three weapons were used: a handgun, a shotgun and a rifle. At least one of those guns was thrown over the balcony.
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Most of the shots were fired through the door, but police say some of them were fired off of the balcony, which led them to issue a shelter-in-place order for the community.
Eventually, police say Berger waved his hands from his balcony and surrendered to police.
Fernandes and Channel 2′s Candace McCowan are both in the area near the hotel. Both heard a constant barrage of gunfire before Berger was arrested.
Chief Schierbaum says they are working to get residents who were evacuated back into their homes, but there is no timeframe since the investigation is still active.
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