The deranged man who fatally shot a cop at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters has been identified by Georgia authorities as 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White.
White, of Kennesaw, Georgia, unleashed a barrage of bullets on the health agency before storming into a CVS located on the Emory University campus in Atlanta around 4:50 p.m. Friday, the police department said.
Dekalb County police officer David Rose, 33, was reportedly struck and killed while responding to reports of the active shooter at the Clifton Road drugstore, which is located across the street from the CDC’s main campus.
Rose – a heroic officer who joined the department in September 2024 – was rushed to Emory University Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
The gunman was also found shot at the scene, though authorities have not said if his fatal wound was self-inflicted.
Law enforcement sources told CNN the shooter likely targeted the CDC after he became sick with an apparent illness he blamed on the COVID-19 vaccine, according to police interviews with the suspect’s family Friday.
Emory University issued an urgent active shooter alert around 5 p.m., urging all students to “RUN” and “HIDE.”
Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said Friday that the shooter sprayed multiple rounds at law enforcement and the health agency, located right next to the university, which also houses a daycare with 92 children in its care.
None of them were harmed.
Local, state and federal officers swarmed the harrowing scene, with chilling photos shared on social media showing bullet holes piercing the windows of the CDC’s building.
<
