Police do not know why two people started shooting outside Northside Hospital Thursday evening.

But Sandy Springs police do know that a 19-year-old man is dead and the gunmen are on the run.

Melvin Vernell III was shot on the second level of the parking deck next to the Northside Hospital Women’s Center around 6:40 p.m.

"The victim was found in the parking deck next to his car, shot multiple times and witnesses tell us they saw persons, we don't know how many, leave that area on foot," said Sandy Springs Police Lt. Steve Rose.

Vernell was rushed to the emergency room at Northside Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a couple of hours after being shot.

Northside Hospital was put on lockdown for a period of time Thursday evening. It was reopened around 8:30 p.m.

A hospital spokesman told News/Talk WSB’s Jon Lewis there is no connection between the shooting and Northside.

“It happened in our parking deck outside of our Women’s center,” spokesman Russ David said. “But there doesn’t appear to be any connection to the hospital. It wasn’t an employee that was the victim and we don’t believe an employee that was a part of the shooting.”

The parking deck has video surveillance cameras but it was not known if they captured any useful images.

One of the visitors who found themselves caught up in the lockdown was state Sen. Charlie Bethel (R-Dalton).

“We arrived around 6:30 to visit my brother and sister-in-law – my wife’s family had baby today at Northside Women’s Center – and as we arrived, there was a disturbance in the parking lot,” Bethel told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a phone interview.

“As we entered the hospital, we were escorted to an empty patient room with other visitors,” he said. “Another family said that as they were beginning to leave, they heard shots and were hurried back into the hospital.”