Patrick Joseph White of Kennesaw, Georgia, 30, has been identified as the suspected gunman who opened fire outside the CDC buildings. Photo / Getty Images
Public health officials were reeling today in the wake of a shooting that hit Centres for Disease Control and Prevention buildings in Atlanta, killing one police officer.
While authorities have not yet released a motive for yesterday’s shooting, CDC director Susan Monarez, in a call with employees of the National Center for Immunisation and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), expressed her support for the agency’s mission amid some news reports that the suspect was allegedly fixated on the coronavirus vaccine.
“While we pulled you all together today because of my concern for you, the impact of what we were seeing in the media related to this person’s potential motivation, I want to make sure that you understand how supportive I am of you,” Monarez said on the call, according to a partial recording obtained by the Washington Post. “I wanted to address you directly to make sure that you had an opportunity to share your concerns directly.”
The CDC and other public health institutions have been the subject of intense vitriol following the coronavirus pandemic, as misinformation around vaccines and other pandemic measures swirls. CNN and the New York Times reported that the suspected gunman had become fixated on the coronavirus vaccine.
Today, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) identified 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White of Kennesaw, Georgia, as the suspected gunman in the shooting. Investigators said White was found on the second floor of a CVS drugstore at Emory Point, an apartment and retail complex across the street from the CDC Roybal Campus on Clifton Rd. He died at the scene. White had been struck by gunfire, but authorities said it was unclear whether it was from officers or self-inflicted.
The GBI said DeKalb County police officer David Rose, 33, was shot and killed. No civilians were shot. DeKalb County interim police chief Greg Padrick said Rose “gave his life with a commitment to serve others”. He is survived by his wife and two children, with another baby expected soon.
During Monarez’s call with staff today, another CDC senior leader, Daniel Jernigan, who heads the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, or NCEZID, estimated there were about 40 bullet holes in CDC buildings on campus.
He did not mean it as a complete account, but rather an indication that “it will take a bit before the buildings are ‘fixed’ again”, an employee who listened to the call said and, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive information. The shooting was “way worse than what was initially reported”, the employee said, adding that gunfire continued for about 15 minutes and that “it’s a miracle more people weren’t hit”.
Most of the NCIRD staff work in Building 24, one of the buildings hit by the gunman.
Monarez did not provide any additional information about the suspect’s motives during the call. However, a briefing some CDC employees received today from senior agency leaders said the gunman left a note, according to one employee who attended.
“We were told very clearly that this was targeted, directed at CDC,” the employee said. “But we were also told that this was an isolated event.”
There has been speculation among CDC employees that officials may have known about possible threats. When Monarez was at the CDC this week – her first week on the job – she was accompanied at all times by armed security guards, the employee said.
During the call with employees, CDC senior leaders “emphasised that they want campus to feel safe before we come back but I don’t know how that would happen”, another CDC employee said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy jnr said that the agency is “deeply saddened” by the shooting.
“We know how shaken our public health colleagues feel today. No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others,” Kennedy said in a statement posted on social media, saying “public health workers show up every day with purpose – even in moments of grief and uncertainty”.
Several CDC employees told the Post that the incident had caused fear and anger among some staff. “Fear for the future of our work, and if we will be targets for future attacks based on the current rhetoric,” another employee said, pointing to anti-vaccine sentiments that are sometimes directed at the CDC.
Kennedy also has a history of disparaging vaccination, falsely called the coronavirus vaccine the “deadliest vaccine ever made” and has accused Government employees of “mass poisoning” the American public.
A spokesman for Kennedy, Andrew Nixon, downplayed the impact of the secretary’s past rhetoric disparaging vaccines, including the coronavirus vaccine. Rather, Nixon said in an email today: “We are restoring trust in vaccines.”
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said yesterday that the shooter “is a known person that may have some interest in certain things that I can’t reiterate right now with any confidence until the investigation is fully conducted”.
“But I think that in a short order you’ll know more about this individual and about some assumptions of his motives, but can’t say right now,” Dickens told reporters.
Police said they received a call about the shooting around 4.50pm yesterday. At least 25 shots could be heard in the area, according to video shared with the Post by a CDC employee.
Rapid-fire shots were heard near the CDC around 4.55pm, according to an employee who was on the 12th floor of Building 24. Initially, they said, some people thought the shots were noise from construction.
The building was put on lockdown moments later, prompting the employee and their colleagues to lock the door and push chairs in front of the entrance. “We were all kind of in shock,” the employee said.
Windows were shot on various floors of CDC buildings, officials said. The CDC’s Roybal Campus, which houses its national headquarters and includes all the buildings that bullets were fired into, is adjacent to Emory University’s main campus.
Emory University sent out an alert at 5.01pm (local time) urging people to “RUN, HIDE, FIGHT”. The CDC sent out their alert via email and text at 5.12pm, according to a CDC employee who was in lockdown in one of the buildings hit.
Monarez has an office on the 12th floor of Building 21, which had been shot at. Monarez was not on campus at the time of the shooting – she had left earlier in the afternoon to return to DC, two agency officials said.
In a statement, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp praised first responders while decrying that “deranged criminals” had targeted Georgians in two incidents within a week. A US Army soldier shot five fellow service members on Thursday at Fort Stewart, officials said.
“Marty, the girls, and I are thankful for all those who answer the call to serve and who protect their fellow Georgians,” Kemp said, referring to his wife and their children. “We ask that you join us in holding them in our prayers, along with those harmed this evening near the CDC Centre.”
The GBI, which is leading the investigation into the shooting, said it is co-ordinating with the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and local police.