ATLANTA — A witness inside the Midtown Four Seasons is sharing what she saw and heard as Atlanta Police respond to a call of a barricaded gunman situation on Tuesday. Officers said one person has been taken into custody.
11Alive's Kaitlyn Ross spoke with the witness, who said she was locked inside of her suite being told not to leave under any circumstances. A letter from building management stated that anyone inside the hotel needs to stay locked inside their rooms, and anyone not inside to stay far away.
The woman said that it all started around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday. She immediately noticed something was off, and she walked downstairs to security to let them know that something was wrong and someone was suffering through a crisis.
She said security was initially trying to handle the situation, but once the alleged suspect kept getting more and more agitated, she took some videos of what was happening and Atlanta Police responded to the scene.
The woman said she has been shaking in he room due to how scary the scene is and people inside the building are "alarmed."
"I went out on my balcony, and I see him, and he's wearing a gas mask and holding the flags. Well, first of all, around 1:30, I think we started hearing it. And then, about 20 minutes later, we hear the guy still getting a little agitated and screaming. And then we started hearing shots, and normally I was thinking law enforcement shooting. And then we saw SWAT. And we just heard errant shots since," the woman described.
11Alive is live outside the location, where multiple shots have been heard.
The Four Seasons is down the street from Piedmont Park and not that far from the Colony Square shopping mall. Officers set up a perimeter to safely investigate the matter; they took one person in custody.
Residents were told to avoid 12th Street/13 Street, W Peachtree St, Crescent St, Peachtree St and Peachtree Walk.
