Northside Hospital and a Midtown Atlanta doctor’s office are among those who should be held responsible for a deadly shooting, according to two lawsuits filed this week in DeKalb County State Court.
The shootings on May 3, 2023, killed one woman, Amy St. Pierre, and critically injured four others inside the Northside Medical Building. Investigators said a Coast Guard veteran with a history of mental health issues opened fire inside a doctor’s office before stealing a vehicle and leaving the area, launching a massive manhunt that ended hours later in Cobb County. Deion Duwane Patterson was arrested about eight hours after the shootings. He remains in custody in Fulton County, facing one charge of murder and four counts of aggravated assault.
Both lawsuits, filed by St. Pierre’s husband and by survivor Alesha Hollinger, who was shot as she stepped off an elevator, claim that Northside, the doctor’s group, and the security company at the building knew of crimes in the area before the shooting.
“Prior to and on May 3, 2023, there had been reports of incidents of dangerous criminal activity at and near the premises and other similar premises owned, occupied, operated, managed and/or controlled by defendants, about which defendants knew, or by the exercise of reasonable care, should have known,” both lawsuits state.
Northside, Laureate Medical Group, Healthpeak Properties, and Markman Security are among the defendants named in the lawsuits. Both suits seek a jury trial and unspecified damages.
The defendants have not yet responded to the lawsuits, court documents showed.
“As we mark this day, we pray for those who experienced loss and for the continuing recovery of those who were injured, and we embrace those who bore witness to the event,” Northside said in a statement on the one-year anniversary of the shootings. “Our health care providers encounter challenging experiences every day, and they continue to demonstrate their remarkable ability to handle these situations. In the past year, Northsiders have managed both emotions and heartache, while never losing focus on their jobs to care for patients.”
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
St. Pierre, 38, was a married mother of two and was passionate about social justice and helping others, according to a friend and co-worker at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She had ridden her bike to a doctor’s appointment, and once inside texted a friend to wish her a happy birthday. Moments later, she was shot and killed.
Hollinger, an Acworth mother of three, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this month she has been through a year of surgeries, doctor visits and therapy, and she’s not done yet. She is grateful to be alive, but feels remorseful at times that she survived.
Credit: Family photos
Credit: Family photos
“Her life was senselessly taken away,” Hollinger said of St. Pierre. “And that’s for me one of the hardest things I’ve had to accept. We had similar injuries, both shot in the head. One of us lives, one of us does not.”
Also injured were Lisa Glynn, Georgette Whitlow and Jazzmin Daniel. According to police, Glynn was shot in the abdomen, Whitlow was shot in the arm, and Daniel was hit multiple times in the abdomen area.
“You never think that you’re going to be the victim of a mass shooting,” Hollinger said. “I don’t think people realize how quickly it happens. There’s no way I could have gotten out of harm’s way.”
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