A man who discharged over 180 rounds at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters accessed a secured safe to obtain his father’s firearms, aiming to protest Covid-19 vaccines, according to US authorities, reports Breaking News.
Papers discovered during a search of the residence where Patrick Joseph White resided with his parents “expressed the shooter’s discontent with the Covid-19 vaccinations,” stated Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).
White, aged 30, had written about his desire to “make the public aware of his discontent with the vaccine,” Mr. Hosey noted, reports Breaking News.
He had also recently expressed suicidal thoughts, prompting law enforcement contact weeks prior to the incident, Mr. Hosey mentioned.
He died at the scene on Friday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after fatally shooting a police officer, reports Breaking News.
When questioned about threats fueled by misinformation regarding the CDC and its vaccine efforts, FBI special agent Paul Brown said on Tuesday: “We’ve not seen an uptick, although any rhetoric that suggests or leads to violence is something we take very seriously,” reports Breaking News.
“Although we are tracking it, we are sensitive to it, we have not seen that uptick,” Mr. Brown, head of the FBI’s Atlanta division, said, reports Breaking News.
The suspect’s family was fully cooperating with the investigation, officials reported during a Tuesday news briefing.
White had no prior criminal record, according to Mr. Hosey.
While executing a search warrant at the family’s home in Kennesaw, an Atlanta suburb, authorities collected documents under analysis and seized electronic devices for forensic review, the agency reported, reports Breaking News.
Investigators retrieved five firearms, including one belonging to his father used in the attack, Mr. Hosey confirmed.
Mr. Hosey noted that the suspect lacked a key to the gun safe: “He (White) broke into it,” reports Breaking News.
White was confronted by CDC security before driving to a nearby pharmacy, where he began shooting from the sidewalk, authorities said.
The bullets penetrated “blast-resistant” windows across the campus, forcing employees to take cover during the attack.
The GBI recovered over 500 shell casings from the scene.
Following the incident, CDC officials were evaluating campus security and alerting authorities to any new threats, reports Breaking News.
US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the CDC campus on Monday with deputy secretary Jim O’Neill and CDC director Susan Monarez, per a health agency statement.
“No-one should face violence while working to protect the health of others,” Mr. Kennedy said in a statement on Saturday, reports Breaking News.
It noted that top federal health officials were “actively supporting CDC staff,” reports Breaking News.
Mr. Kennedy also visited the DeKalb County Police Department and met privately with the slain officer’s wife.
A photo of the suspect would be released later on Tuesday, Mr. Hosey said, though he urged the public to focus on the officer’s face instead, reports Breaking News.
Mr. Kennedy, a prominent figure in the national anti-vaccine movement before being chosen by President Donald Trump to lead federal health agencies, has made inaccurate claims about Covid-19 and other vaccines’ safety and efficacy.
Some unionized CDC workers demanded stronger protections, while recently departed employees, affected by the Trump administration’s extensive layoffs, pointed fingers at Mr. Kennedy, reports Breaking News.
Years of misleading vaccine and public health rhetoric were bound to “take a toll on people’s mental health” and “leads to violence,” said Tim Young, a CDC employee who retired in April.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.
