{"id":58795,"date":"2025-08-10T09:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T09:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/58795\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T09:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T09:11:09","slug":"cdc-shooter-blamed-covid-19-vaccines-for-mental-health-issues-officials-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/58795\/","title":{"rendered":"CDC shooter blamed COVID-19 vaccines for mental health issues, officials say"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A bullet hole in the door of a CVS pharmacy close to where police say a man shot at the headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.Jeff Amy\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

A Georgia man who opened fire on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 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 told The Associated Press on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old shooter also tried to get into the CDC\u2019s headquarters in Atlanta but was stopped by guards before driving to a pharmacy across the street and opening fire late Friday afternoon, 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.<\/p>\n

DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was mortally wounded while responding to the shooting.<\/p>\n

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 Saturday. But some laid-off CDC employees said Kennedy shares responsibility for the violence and called on him to resign.<\/p>\n

Police said a suspected shooter and a police officer are dead after law enforcement responded to an active shooter near the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Emory University.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press<\/p>\n

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation named Patrick Joseph White as the shooter, but authorities haven\u2019t said whether he was killed by police or killed himself.<\/p>\n

The suspect\u2019s 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\u2019s dog, and had also become fixated on the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the official. The family lives in Kennesaw, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of CDC headquarters.<\/p>\n

A voicemail left at a phone number listed publicly for White\u2019s family wasn\u2019t immediately returned Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

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Former CDC employees affected by recent layoffs say Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. spread rhetoric that created mistrust toward the organization.Mark Schiefelbein\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

The shooting left gaping bullet holes in windows across the CDC campus, where thousands work on critical disease research. Employees huddled under lockdown for hours while investigators gathered evidence. Staff was encouraged to work from home Monday or take leave.<\/p>\n

At least four CDC buildings were hit, Director Susan Monarez said on X.<\/p>\n

Sam Atkins, who lives in Stone Mountain, said outside the CVS pharmacy on Saturday that gun violence feels like \u201ca fact of life\u201d now. \u201cThis is an everyday thing that happens here in Georgia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are deeply saddened by the tragic shooting at CDC\u2019s Atlanta campus that took the life of officer David Rose,\u201d Kennedy said Saturday. \u201cWe know how shaken our public health colleagues feel today. No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some rejected the expressions of solidarity Kennedy made in a \u201cDear colleagues\u201d email, and called for his resignation.<\/p>\n

RFK Jr.\u2019s cuts to vaccine funding threaten pandemic preparedness, Canadian health experts warn<\/a><\/p>\n

RFK Jr.\u2019s new vaccine panel to review immunization schedule, use of older vaccines<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cKennedy is directly responsible for the villainization of CDC\u2019s workforce through his continuous lies about science and vaccine safety, which have fueled a climate of hostility and mistrust,\u201d said Fired but Fighting, a group of laid-off employees pushing back against changes to the CDC by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n

Under Kennedy, CDC has laid off<\/a> nearly 2,000 employees. Trump proposes cutting the agency\u2019s budget in half next year, moving some CDC functions into a new Administration for a Healthy America. Kennedy has a history as a leader in the anti-vaccine movement, but he reached new prominence by spreading distrust of COVID-19 vaccines. For example, he called it \u201ccriminal medical malpractice\u201d to give COVID-19 vaccines to children.<\/p>\n

Kennedy parlayed that attention into a presidential bid and endorsement of Trump, leading to Trump naming him secretary. Kennedy continues to undercut the scientific consensus for vaccines, ordering $500 million cut from vaccine development funding on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Fired But Fighting also called for the resignation of Russell Vought, pointing to a video recorded before Trump appointed him Office of Management and Budget director with orders to dismantle much of the federal government.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,\u201d Vought said in the video, obtained by ProPublica and the research group Documented. \u201cWhen they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work, because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down.\u201d<\/p>\n

A request for comment from Vought\u2019s agency was not immediately returned.<\/p>\n

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Bullet holes dot the windows at the CDC Global Headquarters following a shooting that hit at least four of the organization’s buildings.Elijah Nouvelage\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

CDC workers already faced uncertain futures due to funding cuts, layoffs and political disputes over their agency\u2019s mission. \u201cSave the CDC\u201d signs are common in some Atlanta-area neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

This shooting was the \u201cphysical embodiment of the narrative that has taken over, attacking science, and attacking our federal workers,\u201d said Sarah Boim, a former CDC communications staffer who was fired this year during a wave of terminations.<\/p>\n

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Prior to the shooting, the CDC was facing funding cuts, layoffs and political attacks.Megan Varner\/Reuters<\/p>\n

A neighbour of White told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that White spoke with her multiple times about his distrust of COVID-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n

Nancy Hoalst, who lives in same cul-de-sac as White\u2019s family, said he \u201cseemed like a good guy\u201d while doing yard work and walking dogs for neighbours, but would bring up vaccines even in unrelated conversations.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was very unsettled and he very deeply believed that vaccines hurt him and were hurting other people.\u201d Hoalst told the Atlanta newspaper. \u201cHe emphatically believed that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Hoalst said she never believed White would be violent: \u201cI had no idea he thought he would take it out on the CDC.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gunman died at the scene, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said Friday, adding: \u201cwe do not know at this time whether that was from officers or if it was self-inflicted.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had been 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.<\/p>\n

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Flowers are placed below a handwritten sign outside the CDC Global Headquarters on Saturday. David Rose, 33, was killed while responding to Friday’s shooting.Elijah Nouvelage\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Rose, 33, was a former Marine who served in Afghanistan, graduated from the police academy in March and \u201cquickly earned the respect of his colleagues for his dedication, courage and professionalism,\u201d DeKalb County said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis evening, there is a wife without a husband. There are three children, one unborn, without a father,\u201d DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson said.<\/p>\n

Senior CDC leadership told some staff Saturday that they would do a full security assessment following the shooting, according to a conference call recording obtained by AP.<\/p>\n

One staffer said people felt like \u201csitting ducks\u201d Friday. Another asked whether administrators had spoken with Kennedy and if they could speak to \u201cthe misinformation, the disinformation\u201d that \u201ccaused this issue.\u201d Leadership said they are speaking with Kennedy\u2019s office but didn\u2019t say what Kennedy would do.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear CDC leaders fear employees could continue to be targeted. In a Saturday email to employees obtained by AP, CDC\u2019s security office asked employees to scrape old CDC parking decals off their vehicles. The security office said decals haven\u2019t been required for some time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A bullet hole in the door of a CVS pharmacy close to where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-58795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}