Authorities are searching for a man suspected of assaulting a woman inside the Fulton County courthouse Thursday.

The sheriff’s office posted about the alleged assault just after 3 p.m. Sheriff Patrick Labat told Channel 2 Action News from the scene that the incident happened inside a bathroom and involved a courthouse employee. He said someone walked in and interrupted the alleged assault.

Labat said the victim had minor injuries, “but she’s pretty shaken up.”

“Apparently the gentleman had been hiding out in the bathroom and escaped through one of the side entrances,” Labat told Channel 2.

The search is active and the sheriff’s office is asking the public not to approach the man if he is spotted.

The Fulton courthouse sits on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Pryor Street in downtown Atlanta. Anyone who sees the suspect, whose picture was included in the sheriff’s Facebook post, should immediately call 911, officials said.

— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.

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Atlanta art and antiques appraiser and auctioneer Allan Baitcher (right) takes bids during a 2020 auction. Baitcher and his company, Peachtree Antiques, are being sued by a Florida multimillionaire who says he paid them $20 million for fakes. (AJC 2020)

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