A woman shot and killed two people and injured a third in Midtown Atlanta on Monday, prompting an extensive search by multiple law enforcement agencies that led to her arrest at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the police said.
The daytime shooting drew heavily armed police officers to busy midtown on Monday afternoon and briefly led the police to urge residents to stay off the streets as they searched for the person responsible for the shooting.
About two hours after shooting, the Atlanta Police said that a woman had been arrested at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and that officers had recovered a handgun. The police did not immediately release the woman’s name or a possible motive.
“We do not believe these were random acts of violence,” Darin Schierbaum, interim chief of the Atlanta Police Department, said at a news conference. “We believe individuals were likely targeted that were harmed today.”
Mayor Andre Dickens praised the “strong coordination and professionalism” of law enforcement agencies and the “vital support and information from the public” that he said had helped the police track down the woman. The police said that an “extensive camera network” had also helped in the search.
“I want to state clearly that the security of the airport was never compromised,” Mr. Dickens said at the news conference. “The suspect was apprehended prior to being in any controlled areas of the airport.”
The police said that they had responded at about 1:45 p.m. to a report of a person shot at 1280 West Peachtree Street, the address of a high-rise condo tower.
Officers there found two people who had been shot, the police said. One of the victims died; the other was taken to a hospital, the police said, and it was not immediately clear what that person’s condition was.
While at 1280 West Peachtree Street, officers received another call at about 2 p.m. of a person shot at 1100 Peachtree Street, less than a mile away, Chief Schierbaum said. There, officers found another person who appeared to have been shot, the police said. That person was taken to the hospital and died, the police said.
The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office identified the victims who died as Michael Shinners, 60, of Alpharetta, Ga., and Wesley Freeman, 41, of Atlanta.
The police initially described the shooting as “an active situation in Midtown,” and local news stations showed heavily armed officers on the streets.
Chief Schierbaum said that officers from various law enforcement agencies had responded, following a protocol for a possible “active shooter” in the area. The authorities, he said, issued a “shelter in place” order and searched the area until the trail led to the airport.
Just before 4 p.m., state troopers blocked a stretch of highway just south of Atlanta’s downtown core, bringing one of the city’s busiest corridors to a stop at the start of rush hour.
But even before the troopers shut down the highway, drivers saw an unfolding law enforcement response as at least a dozen police vehicles — many unmarked, at least one an armored personnel carrier — raced south toward the airport, blue lights flashing.
The police said that the woman at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport had been taken into custody “without incident.”
Alan Blinder contributed reporting.
