CDC shooter ‘believed COVID vaccine made him suicidal’

ATLANTA

A Georgia man who opened fire on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters, shooting dozens of rounds into the sprawling complex and killing a police officer, had blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal, a law enforcement official has told The Associated Press.

The 30-year-old shooter also tried to get into the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta but was stopped by guards before driving to a pharmacy across the street and opening fire late Aug. 8, the official said. He was armed with five firearms, including at least one long gun, the official said, speaking condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.

DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was mortally wounded while responding to the shooting.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., whose skepticism of vaccine safety has been a cornerstone of his career, voiced support for CDC employees on Aug. 9. But some laid-off CDC employees said Kennedy shares responsibility for the violence and called on him to resign.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation named Patrick Joseph White as the shooter, but authorities haven't said whether he was killed by police or killed himself.

The suspect’s father contacted police and identified his son as the possible shooter, the law enforcement official told AP. The father said his son had been upset over the death of the son’s dog, and had also become fixated on the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the official.

A neighbor of White told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that White spoke with her multiple times about his distrust of COVID-19 vaccines.