Incident Report: Atlanta Northside Hospital
Atlanta, GA | May 3, 2023
In this tragedy, the shooter— a 24-year-old man became agitated in the waiting room at an outpatient medical office in Midtown Atlanta. He pulled a handgun from his bag and shot 5 women in the waiting room. A 39-year-old woman died at the scene of the shooting and four women — ages 25, 39, 56 and 71 — were critically injured.
The shooter immediately fled from the building and stole a vehicle at a gas station across the street. He was arrested 8 hours later in a residential area 13 miles away.
Reports of an active shooter and uncertainty about his identity and location caused a 3-hour lockdown of the entire Midtown area. Workers were told to shelter inside their building and residents were told to stay away from the busy commercial district. Police searched multiple buildings including a large construction site next to the Atlanta Braves ballpark. Meanwhile, the shooter had left less than 2 minutes after the shooting. The multi-hour lockdown likely caused tens of millions in lost revenue to restaurants, retailers, and hundreds of office tenants including top tech employers.
“Every day, our deputies put their lives on the line to protect our communities and today was no differentOur agency’s dedication and swift response to this incident demonstrates our commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of our citizens.” – Chad Chronister, Sheriff
When shots were fired and the shooter was visible on CCTV holding a handgun, the Atlanta Police Department and building occupants would be sent an alert with the location and picture of the shooter within seconds.
Based on available CCTV coverage, the ZeroEyes Operations Center (ZOC) staff would be able to determine that shots were fired in only one office and see the shooter leaving the building.
If other building occupants immediately received an alert about the shooting, they would have time to lock office
doors to prevent the attacker from entering other parts of the building.
From having an image of the shooter, police could connect him to the vehicle theft at the gas station across the street more quickly.
By determining the shooting was isolated to one location, a lockdown of the entire Midtown commercial district would not be necessary. With a ZeroEyes alert, police would have the option to immediately share this information to make an arrest faster.
Each stage of a mass shooting or active shooter incident has its own set of risks and vulnerabilities, therefore requiring different types of solutions.
Some of the most common solutions that leaders look to for active shooter prevention include metal detectors, door locks, or barricades. These measures can be helpful, but it’s critical to understand that they do not address all five stages of a mass shooting. In fact, most security measures, like the examples aforementioned, only address the Active Stage of a mass shooting—and in some cases, could even potentially put the people they are trying to protect at greater risk.
Read more about the five stages of a mass shooting here.
ZeroEyes delivers a proactive, human-verified, visual gun detection and situational awareness solution that integrates into existing digital security cameras.
Providing situational awareness can reduce response times… ultimately saving lives.