CDC shooting aftermath: Here’s what we know

Physicians, health educators, and former employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decried Georgia's lax gun laws and increasing disinformation regarding science and vaccines that they say led to a deadly shooting last week.

"What will it take for the elected leaders of state government to accept that making guns easier to purchase and more prevalent in our community has resulted in worse gun violence?" said Dr. Michael Greenwald, a professor in the department of pediatrics at Emory University.

But he added that education is also needed to change public attitudes about firearm safety.

"Bottom line, we will never make progress if the only time we talk about these issues is when we commiserate with colleagues," he said.

Greenwald spoke at a rally Tuesday night hosted by Georgia Clinicians for Gun Safety, held at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.

Democratic state lawmakers in the audience said there isn't one specific measure that may have prevented the CDC shooting, but they continue to push for measures such as restrictions on access for people in mental health crises and requirements that guns be safely secured in storage units.

State Rep. Shea Roberts, a Democrat from Sandy Springs, blamed Gov. Brian Kemp for "insensitive and inappropriate" language when discussing people with mental health challenges, after calling the shooter "deranged."

There is no indication of additional threats to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency's security chief told staff Tuesday.

Indications are it was an isolated event involving a single individual. But intense work is underway to shore up security and ensure employees’ safety, said CDC Office of Safety, Security and Asset Management Director Jeff Williams, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and verified by an attendee.

Williams spoke at a meeting open to all CDC staff Tuesday morning, along with Director Susan Monarez. The leaders emphasized the agency has its employees’ backs.

Reports in the AJC that CDC employees felt angry, grief and abandoned by the federal government after the shooting were echoed in top stories Tuesday in the Washington Post and elsewhere.

"What we faced was something no one should ever have to endure,” Monarez told the staff. “An attack on our community. On our campus. And in many ways the very mission we serve. Public health should never be under attack. Every day, thousands of you come to this campus and you give yourselves – not seeking thanks, not seeking to make headlines. But today, I will thank you, for everything you do every day.”

She and Williams emphasized the resources available to staff to heal from the events, and security measures in place and under assessment. Monarez also mourned DeKalb County police Officer David Rose and told employees how they can donate to a fund for his family.

The meeting came a day after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the CDC to tour the damage.

Approximately 200 rounds struck the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday afternoon when a gunman who was "discontent" with the COVID-19 vaccine opened fire from across the street, authorities said. 

GBI Director Chris Hosey said more than 500 shell casings were discovered at the CVS pharmacy, along with five guns.  Nearly 200 of the rounds fired by Patrick Joseph White struck six buildings across the street, shattering windows while employees were still inside, authorities said. 

The gunfire hit blast-resistant glass and sent shards traveling up to 50 feet, CDC officials said in an internal email.

At least 85 bullets hit the eighth and ninth floors of Building 21, while 29 struck Building 24 between the sixth and eighth floors. An additional 31 bullets hit Building 18, while Building 16 was also struck by gunfire, the email stated.

More than three dozen shots were also fired at other sites on the CDC campus, including guardhouses at the entrance. Window repairs apparently could take several weeks to months to complete.

The mother of slain DeKalb County police Officer David Rose said he “would put his life on the line for anyone” if it meant saving lives, according to an interview released Tuesday by Channel 2 Action News.

“He lived fearless, knowing that someone is going to have to be there to protect people,” Deveane Atkinson told the news station.

Rose was shot Friday by a man who opened fire at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Atkinson said her son was the first officer to help at the scene. Rose died from his injuries at Emory University Hospital, where many of the doctors knew his mother, who worked there as a nurse for several years.

“He had the best team working on him,” Atkinson told the news station.

Rose was deployed briefly to the Middle East as a U.S. Marine and graduated from Peachtree Ridge High School in Gwinnett County. Before joining DeKalb police, he served as a deputy for the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office, according to Channel 2. He is survived by his pregnant wife and two children, ages 6 and 1.

“She’s holding up as much as she can,” Atkinson added. “It’s still unbelievable for her.”

The GBI on Tuesday released a driver's license photograph of the shooter, Patrick Joseph White. 

The 30-year-old from Kennesaw was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the second floor of a CVS across the street from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to law enforcement.

DeKalb County police Officer David Rose was killed while responding to the incident.

GBI Director Chris Hosey said the agency does not want to "publicize" the shooter, "but we do see the importance of that photograph being put out."

He asked that the public remember Rose in the coming week, especially. 

Officials said 500 shell casings were recovered from the CVS where Patrick Joseph White opened fire at the CDC on Friday afternoon, fatally shooting a DeKalb County police officer.

GBI Director Chris Hosey said nearly 200 rounds struck six separate CDC buildings during the barrage of gunfire.

The weapons used included a mixture of rifles, a shotgun and a handgun that belonged to White's father, authorities said. All of the guns had been secured in White's home before the 30-year-old "forced his way into the safe that contained the weapons." 

The majority of shell casings recovered from the shooting scene were from a long gun, Hosey told reporters, noting that White's family is cooperating with the investigation. 

The shooter who opened fire on a DeKalb County police officer and the CDC headquarters used guns stolen from his father, the GBI said Tuesday.

Patrick White used at least five guns during the incident before killing himself, GBI Director Chris Hosey said. The guns had been secured in the family's Kennesaw-area home.

Cobb County police records show that White previously stole one of his father's guns last September. Kenneth White called officers to his home to report that his son was suicidal, the police report states.

"Patrick stated he did take a gun from his father but it was unloaded and that it was only a cry for help," the report states.

FBI Atlanta Special Agent Paul Brown said his agency has not seen a recent increase in threats to healthcare workers despite Friday’s CDC shooting.

“We have not seen an uptick, although any rhetoric that suggests or leads to violence is something we take very seriously,” he said. “Although we are tracking it, we are sensitive to it, we are not seeing that uptick."

An autopsy revealed the shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

GBI Director Chris Hosey also said officials recovered more than 500 shell casings from Friday's scene outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where Patrick Joseph White opened fire and killed a DeKalb County police officer. 

White had no criminal history, but evidence seized from his home indicates he had written about his distrust of vaccines, the GBI said.

After executing a search warrant, investigators found a "written document that expressed the shooter’s discontent with the COVID-19 vaccinations," Hosey told reporters. 

The GBI is providing an update on the investigation. You can watch the news conference here. 

Here's what we know so far:

• On Friday afternoon, 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White opened fire toward the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from the second floor of a CVS Pharmacy across the street.
• CDC employees took cover as bullets shattered windows. For more than 90 minutes, the CDC, the Emory University campus and a nearby hospital were placed on lockdown. An internal email said the gunman fired 180 shots and damaged at least 150 windows at the agency.
• DeKalb County Officer David Rose, 33, was fatally shot while responding to the scene. Rose was a married father of two, with a third child on the way, officials said. He joined the department in September. Rose was the fourth Georgia law enforcement member killed in the line of duty this year. 
• Neighbors said White, who lived in Cobb County with his parents, had a distrust of vaccines and that he blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him sick. He had spoken about them increasingly in recent months, even during unrelated conversations. 
• Records show White’s father called 911 multiple times the day of the shooting and expressed concerned his son could be involved. Kenneth White had called Cobb County police to their Kennesaw home multiple times over the past two years, saying his son struggled with chronic pain for years and was suicidal, records show.
• Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. toured the CDC on Monday before meeting with Rose’s widow. Kennedy has faced criticism from some CDC employees over his rhetoric around vaccines.