COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Police are investigating a shooting involving an officer at the Cobb County Police Department headquarters.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says Rebekah Patterson, 26, came to the police department on Fairground St. SE on Wednesday armed with a handgun.
Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell spoke exclusively with Rebekah Patterson’s father who has questions about how it started, where it ended and why it happened.
“This is not Rebekah, Rebekah’s a typical 26-year-old kid. She doesn’t do violence. She doesn’t agree with it. I don’t understand any of it. There’s no reason for her to have been at the police station,” he said.
The GBI says when the officer met Patterson outside, she pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the officer.
Investigators say the officer ordered her to put down the gun multiple times, and when she did not comply, the officer shot her multiple times.
Patterson is in the ICU, still critical but stable, according to her father.
“I don’t believe what they are saying is what happened. If she came in for advice or to talk to an officer why was she told to go out of the police department,” he said.
The GBI has not released information about why Patterson met the officer outside of the police department.
Patterson’s father told Newell she just recently got married and spoke with her husband on Wednesday at some point in the day, before the incident occurred.
“Everything was fine. She was supposed to go to her mom’s house in Alabama to take her to have her knee surgery today,” he said.
Patterson told Newell his daughter lives a normal life and was happy to be a newlywed.
“Rebekah is also a very private person, too. She doesn’t want to put her problems on other people. She’s never been a violent person. Was it a mental health thing? I don’t know. She’s never showed signs of it. It could’ve been anything,” he said.
Investigators say officers rendered aide to Patterson before medics arrived.
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