MACON, Ga. — The Bibb Sheriff's Office says 49-year-old Christopher Clyde Valentine Sr. barricaded himself in at 770 Pine Street in a restroom at Atrium Health Navicent.
They say Valentine shot himself after deputies negotiated for several hours trying to get him to leave the restroom.
Bibb County Sheriff David Davis called it a mental health crisis.
However, things at the hospital, a day later, were back to normal.
Hospital staff were getting lunch; people were going to appointments.
It seems like business as usual at Atrium Health Navicent, but there's a lot on people's minds.
'It made me feel horrible and sad,” Nicole Hunter said. “It was very close to home for me because I stay off of Napier."
Hunter said she got the alert of the standoff on her phone. She says she really feels for Valentine.
“I’ve been there before and I've asked for help and sometimes they listen, and sometimes they ignore you. It's not nobody's fault, though. You just never know what's going on with somebody,” Hunter explained.
Olivia Hudson and her partner Jonquavious Jordan come to the hospital three times a week for prenatal appointments.
“It's just pretty sad,” Hudson said. “There was a lot of news about how much police presence was in the area.”
She says it seems like law enforcement did what they could.
“I saw that he had said that he had mental health issues and came in for help. That's sad that he couldn't get it fast enough, I guess,” Hudson explained.
Jordan says he wishes the hospital could have helped Valentine.
“Whoever he came to for help, I wish that they could've maybe spotted it sooner. It's a tragedy, actually. Maybe there was a look in his eyes. Whatever the observation was, it wasn't fast enough to get him the help that he needed,” Jordan said.
The sheriff's office says no one else was injured.
We reached out to the hospital asking how the Atrium Police keeps the largest health provider and employer safe.
They said in a statement that they're grateful for their police and Bibb Sheriff's Office keeping the community safe.
This is the second gun incident inside an Atrium building in less than two weeks.
On Jan. 4, a Central State Prison inmate grabbed the holster from one of two corrections officers escorting him into the hospital.
The second guard pulled her gun and ordered the inmate to lie on the floor. The first guard was treated for minor injuries.