The mother of the suspect identified in the deadly mass shooting at a medical facility on Wednesday has spoken with multiple news outlets, revealing that her son was angry with doctors because they would not prescribe him a common anti-anxiety medication called Ativan.
Instead, he was allegedly prescribed a different medication, although that different medication wasn’t mentioned.
[The suspect] had sought treatment around noon Wednesday at the Northside Medical Midtown facility because he was dissatisfied with care he was getting from the Department of Veterans Affairs, his mother told investigators, according to a high-level source with the Atlanta Police Department.
But when doctors wouldn’t give him the anti-anxiety drug Ativan, Patterson got angry, his mother told CNN affiliate WSB. He pulled a handgun and began firing, the source told CNN, then took off on foot, stole a vacant pickup truck idling at a gas station and drove it north to Cobb County.
via CNN
Ativan is one of the most commonly prescribed medications in the Country, but comes with warnings of addition.
The suspect was a Coast Guardsman who was discharged in January of this year, although it is unclear why he was discharged.
The suspect reportedly suffered from anxiety and depression, both of which his mother mentioned during her interviews with media outlets.
1 person was killed and 4 others were injured during the incident that unfolded Wednesday morning. The suspect was captured hours later just north of Atlanta.
