He fired upwards of 500 shots, fatally striking a police officer, shattering glass and damaging buildings Friday afternoon at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the GBI.
Then, Patrick Joseph White turned one of the guns on himself, investigators said Tuesday. White, 30, had broken into his father’s gun cabinet and left the family’s Kennesaw-area home with five weapons, including rifles, a shotgun and a handgun.
Both the GBI director and Atlanta FBI’s special agent in charge provided more updates Tuesday on the incident that locked down the CDC, Emory University and nearby Emory Hospital and sent hundreds of people scrambling for safety. But first, they offered condolences for the slain officer.
“Our hearts and prayers go to the family, friends and colleagues of DeKalb County police Officer David Rose, who was killed in the line of duty during this incident,” GBI Director Chris Hosey said. “He served with honor, courage and unwavering dedication. His sacrifice will never be forgotten.”
At an intersection near both the CDC and Emory campus, White’s actions led to at least 90 minutes of horror and chaos Friday afternoon. White’s anger was directed at the CDC because he believed the COVID-19 vaccination he received made his back pain more severe, according to investigators and police reports.
But others, including Rose, were in his path. Rose, a March graduate of the police academy, was shot and killed before he could stop White. Autopsies revealed White shot himself, the GBI said Tuesday.
“Our investigation reveals that the rounds fired by the Emory police officer did not strike the subject,” Hosey said.
Despite the barrage of bullets, no one else was shot, according to investigators.
White’s mental health issues had been documented by Cobb County police, according to reports obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. After Friday’s shooting, his father — suspecting his son had been involved — made multiple calls to 911.
“The shooter had no known criminal history,” Hosey said. “Evidence in this investigation indicates that the shooter had recently verbalized thoughts of suicide, which even led to law enforcement being contacted several weeks before the incident.”
After identifying White as the shooter, investigators met with his family late Friday at their home, Hosey said. The family is cooperating with investigators, he added.
While executing a search warrant at White’s home, investigators found a “written document that expressed the shooter’s discontent with the COVID-19 vaccinations,” Hosey told reporters.
Credit: GBI
Credit: GBI
In the wake of the shooting, FBI agents combed the CDC looking for other victims and evidence, according to Paul Brown, special agent in charge of the Atlanta office. Nearly 200 shots hit the agency’s buildings, officials said.
“Late into Friday night, members of the FBI SWAT, along with special agents, went through room by room clearing the facilities on the CDC campus to make sure no one was struck, there were no victims on that campus with that many rounds being fired onto that campus,” Brown said. “I’m glad to say that everyone was safely evacuated, including the children in the day care and they were reunified with their families.”
Brown said the incident appears to be isolated, and that the agency has not seen an increase in threats to health care workers since Friday.
“We have not seen an uptick, although any rhetoric that suggests or leads to violence is something we take very seriously,” he said. “Although we are tracking it, we are sensitive to it, we are not seeing that uptick.”
On Tuesday, the GBI released a photo of White from his driver’s license. Hosey said his agency did not want to publicize the shooter, but understood the importance of releasing his photo.
“What we do encourage is that the public remembers the face of the officer this next week especially,” Hosey said.
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Funeral arrangements for Rose were pending Tuesday, according to DeKalb police. Public memorials were placed at police headquarters and near the shooting scene, and an online fundraising page for the Rose family had climbed to $380,000 by Tuesday afternoon.
Rose, a 33-year-old married father of two, was expecting a third child with his wife. After serving in the U.S. Marines, he worked as as a jailer with the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office before joining the DeKalb department last year.
Deveane Atkinson, Rose’s mother, worked for many years at Emory University Hospital. On Friday, that’s where her son was taken.
Atkinson told Channel 2 Action News her son would have put his life on the line for anyone.
“He lived fearless, knowing that someone is going to have to be there to protect people,” she said.
The GBI asked anyone with information about the investigation, or those who might have photos or videos from the incident, to submit tips by calling 1-800-597-TIPS(8477), online or by downloading the See Something, Send Something app.
— Staff writers Shaddi Abusaid and Chaya Tong contributed to this article.
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