Gunman killed and employee hospitalized after a shooting at a Georgia VA
clinic, police say
[March 18, 2026]
By EMILIE MEGNIEN and JEFF MARTIN
JASPER, Ga. (AP) — There was a shooting Tuesday at a Department of
Veterans Affairs clinic in a small town at the foot of the Blue Ridge
mountains in Georgia, and the gunman was shot and killed, police said.
A Veterans Affairs employee was taken by helicopter to a hospital after
the gunfire Tuesday afternoon, VA spokesman Peter Kasperowicz said.
Jasper police responded to the scene around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, the city
said in a statement. Outside the VA clinic, the officers confronted the
gunman, who was shot and killed, authorities said.
The gunman was from the Jasper area, Jasper Police Chief Matt Dawkins
told reporters at the scene. But details about him were not immediately
released.
“We don’t know what led up to it,” Dawkins said.
Jimmy Mooney was shopping at a nearby Goodwill store when he heard
gunfire.
“We heard the gunshots going off,” he said. “There was probably 17 of us
inside the Goodwill that was shopping, and, they had come and told us to
get in the back of the store and during that time we could see the
officers running down the hill. Gunshots started going off.”
The Jasper police chief said the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be
investigating the shooting along with the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation.
When asked about the suspect’s background, a Pickens County sheriff’s
spokesman said he did not know whether he had a military background.
The clinic will remain closed for the rest of the week, Kasperowicz
said.
“VA is rescheduling appointments as necessary and ensuring Veterans and
staff have access to counseling and chaplain services in the wake of
this tragic event,” he said in an email.
The VA’s Office of Inspector General will assist local authorities in
the investigation, he added.
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Emergency vehicles are seen outside a Department of Veterans Affairs
clinic in Jasper, Ga., Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilie
Megnien)
The outpatient clinic in Jasper offers services that include primary
care and specialty health services, including laboratory, telehealth and
mental health care, according to its website.
Jasper, a town of about 5,000 people, is roughly 60 miles (97 km) north
of downtown Atlanta. Signs on a highway through the town call it
Georgia’s “First Mountain City” as the Blue Ridge Mountains come into
view as motorists from Atlanta head north.
Photos from the local newspaper, the Pickens Progress, showed more than
a half-dozen law enforcement officers responding to the scene, wearing
tactical vests near a strip mall in the town.
The clinic opened in the summer of 2020, the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs said in a news release announcing its grand opening.
“The new Pickens County VA Clinic will increase access and ensure that
our Veterans continue to receive the high-quality health care that they
have earned and deserve closer to their home,” officials said in the
release.
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Martin reported from Kennesaw, Georgia.
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