The 30-year-old man who opened fire at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week, killing a police officer, fired 500 shots at the CDC, with 200 of them hitting six of headquarters’ buildings.
Patrick Joseph White was found dead in the 2nd floor of the building that houses the CVS drug store in Emory Point, a mixed-use development across the street from the CDC. He killed himself, authorities said at a news conference on Tuesday, WAGA reported.
Authorities said White broke into a gun safe at his family’s home and took out a variety of rifles, a shotgun, and handgun before traveling to the campus of Emory University and the CDC in Atlanta. Police said most of the shell casings recovered came from a long gun.
White gunned down DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose, who responded to the initial calls about shots fired just before 5 p.m. on Friday.
“He served with honor, courage, and unwavering dedication,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said. “His sacrifice will never be forgotten.”
A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that the killer tried to get into the CDC headquarters but was stopped by guards, so he drove across the street to the CVS, where he opened fire.
No employees were hit by gunfire, and the CDC went through the campus’s buildings methodically to make sure everyone was safe, WAGA said. Authorities also evacuated a daycare center on the facility’s campus, eventually reuniting the 92 children there with their parents.
The GBI said that they found writings from White saying he “distrusted” the COVID-19 vaccines, but they described the writings as a personal statement and not a threat. Authorities previously said that White blamed the vaccine for his depression and suicidal thoughts.
Those suicidal thoughts had led to contact with police several weeks before the deadly shooting.
WAGA also obtained the 911 call made on Friday by the killer’s father in Cobb County, where they both lived. The father said he had called DeKalb County’s E911 center — probably the non-emergency number since calls to 911 go to the nearest dispatch center — three times but had not received a call back. He told Cobb County dispatchers he thought his son might be involved in the CDC shooting.
