Authorities have identified the man behind a deadly shooting near the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta — a tragedy that claimed the life of a DeKalb County police officer.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation named Patrick Joseph White, 30, of Kennesaw, Ga., as the suspected shooter in the Friday, Aug. 8 attack near Emory University. White was killed during the incident, along with Officer David Rose, 33, who succumbed to gunshot wounds after being critically injured at the scene.
White’s neighbors say his distrust of vaccines may have played a role in the violence. Nancy Hoalst, who had lived near him for about five years, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that White had grown increasingly vocal about his belief that vaccines had harmed him and others.
“He was very unsettled and deeply believed vaccines hurt him and were hurting other people,” Hoalst said. “I had no idea he would take it out on the CDC.”
Cody Alcorn, a reporter for NBC affiliate 11 Alive, also spoke with neighbors who described White as openly anti-vaccine and noted that he had recently appeared thinner.
Investigators initially theorized — based on statements from a family member — that White might have been ill, or believed he was ill, and blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for his condition, according to CNN.
Atlanta police received 911 calls just before 5 p.m. on Aug. 8 about an active shooter outside 1600 Clifton Road, directly in front of the CDC campus.
When officers arrived, they found Rose gravely wounded. The suspect, wearing a surgical mask, ear protection, and carrying multiple weapons — including two handguns, a rifle, and a shotgun — had already fired several rounds into CDC buildings, though no staff or civilians were hurt.
Gunfire soon erupted inside a nearby CVS. Officers entered the store and found White on the second floor with fatal gunshot wounds. Authorities have not confirmed whether he died from police fire or a self-inflicted shot.
Rose, remembered as a dedicated officer and family man, leaves behind his pregnant wife and two young children.
“This evening, there is a wife without a husband,” said DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson in a statement. “There are three children, one unborn, without a father. There is a mother and a father, as well as siblings who also share in this traumatic loss.”
