Descrease article font size
Increase article font size
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has identified the man who opened fire at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White of Kennesaw, Georgia.
The GBI statement says White died and Officer David Rose with the DeKalb County Police Department was shot and killed during the shooting Friday.
The shooter opened fire outside the CDC headquarters, striking windows across the sprawling campus and killing the officer before he was found dead in a nearby building, authorities said. The attack prompted a massive law enforcement response to one of the nation’s most prominent public health institutions, but no one else was reported to be injured.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
At least four CDC buildings were hit, Director Susan Monarez said in a post on X. Images shared by employees showed multiple agency buildings with bullet-pocked windows, underscoring the breadth of the damage to a site where thousands of scientists and staff work on critical disease research.
Story continues below advertisement
The gunman was found on the second floor of a building across the street from the CDC campus and died at the scene, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said. He added Friday that “we do not know at this time whether that was from officers or if it was self-inflicted.”
The shooter was armed with a long gun, and authorities recovered three other firearms at the scene, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Trending Now
Group threatens N.S. with legal action over ‘grossly disproportionate’ woods ban
Canada expands recall for pistachio products due to possible salmonella
The gunman’s motive is still unknown this early in the investigation, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said Friday.
A voicemail left at a phone number listed for White in public records was not immediately returned Saturday morning.
Rose, 33, was a former Marine who served in Afghanistan and graduated from the police academy in March and “quickly earned the respect of his colleagues for his dedication, courage and professionalism,” DeKalb County said in a statement.
“This evening, there is a wife without a husband. There are three children, one unborn, without a father,” DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson said.
More on World
More videos
© 2025 The Canadian Press