Shooter who opened fire on CDC headquarters identified as 30-year-old Atlanta man
This shooting was the 'physical embodiment of the narrative that has taken over, attacking science, and attacking our federal workers,' said Sarah Boim, a former CDC communications staffer who was fired this year during wave of terminations.
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'It's devastating,' said Boim. 'When I saw the picture of those windows having been struck by bullets I really lost it,' she said, her voice cracking.
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A neighbor of White told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that White spoke with her multiple times about his distrust of COVID-19 vaccines.
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Nancy Hoalst, who lives in same cul-de-sac as White's family, said he seemed like a good guy' while doing yard work and walking dogs for neighbors, but would bring up vaccines even in unrelated conversations.
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'He was very unsettled and he very deeply believed that vaccines hurt him and were hurting other people.' Hoalst told the Atlanta newspaper. 'He emphatically believed that.'
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But Hoalst said she never believed White would be violent: 'I had no idea he thought he would take it out on the CDC.'
A voicemail left at a phone number listed for White's family in public records was not immediately returned Saturday morning.
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The gunman died at the scene, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said Friday, adding: 'we do not know at this time whether that was from officers or if it was self-inflicted.'
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He had been armed with a long gun, and authorities recovered three other firearms at the scene, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
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Rose, 33, was a former Marine who served in Afghanistan, graduated from the police academy in March and 'quickly earned the respect of his colleagues for his dedication, courage and professionalism,' DeKalb County said.
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'This evening, there is a wife without a husband. There are three children, one unborn, without a father,' DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson said.
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Outside the complex that includes four floors of apartments above the CVS store, some people came Saturday to witness what had happened.
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Sam Atkins, who lives in Stone Mountain, said gun violence feels like 'a fact of life' now: 'This is an everyday thing that happens here in Georgia.'
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