Quadruple shooting in DeKalb: Baby awake, expected to survive

As police continued to search for a gunman who shot a baby and three adults Monday night in the breezeway of a DeKalb County apartment complex, the family of the youngest victim got some good news.

D’onte’ Paterson II — the 1-year-old boy who was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston in critical condition — was awake and expected to survive, his father told Channel 2 Action News on Tuesday.

According to a police incident report, D’onte’ Patterson I told police he, his son, the child’s mother, his brother and a friend were standing outside Building C at the Austin Oaks apartments Monday night when “he looked over his right shoulder” and saw a man “walking from alongside” the building.

Paterson “turned back around and he advised he heard one gun shot and then four more shots,” the incident report said. “(He) stated he grabbed his son and ran into his apartment.”

Paterson discovered the his son had been shot in the stomach when he got to his apartment and saw blood on his hand, police said. The baby underwent surgery Monday night and was in stable condition on Tuesday, his father said.

According to the incident report, Paterson and the mother of his child were not shot, but the other three adults on-scene were — one in the thigh and two in the ankle. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening.