ATLANTA, Ga. — Friends and neighbors of the man accused of shooting five women at a midtown doctor’s office, killing one of them, were stunned to find out he was capable of committing murder.
Deion Patterson is accused of opening fire inside a Northside Hospital medical facility Wednesday after he was turned away and not given anti-anxiety drug Ativan.
Amy St. Pierre, 39, was killed at the scene. Four more women were wounded and three remain in the ICU.
Patterson made his first court appearance Thursday morning, where he waived his rights.
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Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Ashli Lincoln dug into Patterson’s background Thursday, talking with his friends and neighbors.
Lincoln went by Patterson’s father’s home, where a woman inside refused to talk. Both Patterson’s parents wouldn’t return phone calls from Channel 2 Action News.
Channel 2′s Sophia Choi did speak with Patterson’s mother over the phone Wednesday. She said her son had a mental health break after the Veteran’s Affairs health system wouldn’t give him his medication.
Patterson was discharged from his post as an electrician’s mate in the U.S. Coast Guard in January.
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Lincoln discovered that Patterson used to live in Henry County, where his problems with the law started in 2015 when he was charged with marijuana possession. Two years later, he was arrested twice for violating his probation. Later that year, he was charged with driving under the influence, leaving the scene of a crash and other misdemeanor traffic charges.
Those charges were eventually dropped.
More than 500 miles away, in Missouri, Patterson was cited for three separate traffic violations in 2020.
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Back at his father’s home, a neighbor said he doesn’t know what could have gone wrong.
“Derrick did an awesome job raising him, I don’t know what happened, that’s it,” the neighbor said.
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