Murder suspect arrested by Sandy Springs police inside hospital

Nathan Louis Highsmith, 25, of Canton, was arrested Thursday at Emory Saint Joseph's Hospital. (Credit: Sandy Springs Police Department)

Credit: Sandy Springs Police Department

Credit: Sandy Springs Police Department

Nathan Louis Highsmith, 25, of Canton, was arrested Thursday at Emory Saint Joseph's Hospital. (Credit: Sandy Springs Police Department)

A Cherokee County man wanted in a fatal shooting in northwest Georgia was found in a hospital in Sandy Springs and arrested in the emergency room, police said Friday.

Nathan Louis Highsmith, 25, of Canton, is accused of shooting two people, killing one, in a Pickens County home Thursday night. Pickens sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene in the Golden Springs area about 6 p.m., the sheriff’s office said in a news release. One victim survived but is hospitalized, while the other died at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta.

Highsmith was quickly identified as the suspect and his Honda Accord was spotted later Thursday night in the parking lot of Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital off Peachtree Dunwoody Road, Sandy Springs police said. When officers checked the tag information, they confirmed the car’s owner was the same person allegedly involved in the double shooting, police said.

At least two officers can be seen in body camera footage slowly approaching the car at 8:31 p.m., but no one was inside. Several officers then went inside the hospital and found Highsmith about five minutes later waiting for medical attention, police said. The video shows the suspect being taken into custody, still wearing his mask, as hospital employees look on.

Authorities did not say if the suspect was injured during the shooting or why he went to the hospital.

Highsmith and his vehicle were turned over to deputies in Pickens County. He was charged with felony murder and aggravated assault.

The suspect, Nathan Highsmith, involved in a shooting earlier this evening has been taken into custody.

Posted by Pickens County Georgia Sheriff's Office on Thursday, January 20, 2022

The victims’ names have not been released. Officials in Pickens have not provided more details surrounding the circumstances of the shooting or a possible motive.

The GBI is assisting in the investigation.

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