The gunman who opened fire Friday at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention broke into his father’s safe to get the five firearms recovered at the scene, state investigators said Tuesday, as some CDC workers seeking answers and reassurance from leadership were left dissatisfied by a short agency-wide meeting about the shooting.
The shooter, Patrick Joseph White, fired nearly 500 rounds during the shooting, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said at a news conference Tuesday. Most of the shell casings found at the scene were from a long gun, one of the weapons White took from his father, the GBI said.
White – who GBI Director Chris Hosey confirmed died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound – had expressed discontent with the Covid-19 vaccine in written documents recovered from his home. White “wanted to make the public aware of his public distrust of the vaccines,” Hosey said.
The investigative updates Tuesday came as the CDC held an all-agency meeting where staffers hoped to get more details about last week’s shooting – the latest example of the ongoing turmoil at one of the world’s top health agencies, more than five years after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Instead, some who listened said they found the call lacking: No new information was shared, and comments were disabled, preventing anyone from asking questions, according to two CDC sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the meeting.
“Not much new in that meeting,” one CDC source said, describing it as “more for our hearts than our heads.”
Here’s what else we know:
The shooting started just before 5 p.m. Friday at a CVS drugstore directly across from the CDC’s main entrance. DeKalb County police officer David Rose arrived as White fired on the CDC complex; on Tuesday, investigators confirmed Rose was fatally shot by White.
No one at the CDC was injured in the shooting.
Of the nearly 500 shots fired, about 200 struck six CDC buildings on the campus, which is located near Emory University on the eastern edge of Atlanta.
Most of those shots were fired by a long gun, investigators said – one of the five weapons White had stolen from his father. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has determined all the firearms belonged to White’s father.
All five firearms – a mix of rifles, a shotgun and a handgun – were recovered, Hosey said, noting that White’s family is cooperating with the ongoing investigation.
White had no known criminal history, Hosey told reporters Tuesday.
But he had “recently verbalized thoughts of suicide,” Hosey said, and law enforcement was contacted several weeks before the shooting. It is unclear who reached out to law enforcement.
A law enforcement source with direct knowledge of the investigation told CNN the gunman took his own life after unsuccessfully attempting to leave the CVS. Investigators believe White ran out of some of his ammunition, but the door was locked and would not open after firing a few rounds at it, the law enforcement official said.
CDC holds all-hands meeting
The CDC’s all-agency meeting Tuesday had been pre-scheduled following the confirmation of Director Dr. Susan Monarez, according to a CDC staffer who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. But the staffer noted they had been told the meeting’s content clearly would change because of Friday’s shooting.
Many CDC employees are looking for more information on how exactly the shooter tried to get onto campus and how he was deterred. They also want agency leadership to acknowledge the role the Trump administration’s smears of federal employees and vaccines had apparently played in the attack.
The meeting Tuesday was brief, lasting about 17 minutes. The information that was shared by Monarez and Jeff Williams – who leads the Office of Safety, Security and Management – largely repeated what was already known about the incident and the extensive damage to CDC buildings. Both Monarez and Williams honored Rose.
Employees were supposed to hear an update on available mental health resources from acting Chief Operating Officer Christa Capozzola, but she had trouble connecting to the call.
“They had lots of technical challenges,” one CDC source said. “In their defense, most of that team was RIF’d,” the source added, referring to extensive reduction-in-force layoffs of federal employees earlier this year. The CDC lost about a quarter of its staff.
“This was such a mess,” said a second CDC employee who listened to the meeting. “All the chats are popping about how bad and disrespectful it was,” that employee said, describing group messages shared after the meeting.
CDC employees want to know why there wasn’t an earlier announcement to seek cover and why some did not receive a text alert from the agency’s security system.
The second CDC staffer who listened to the call said they had hoped to see agency leaders “being human, actually talking to us – allowing for questions.”
“Dr. Monarez and CDC leadership remain focused on supporting staff during an extraordinarily difficult time as evidenced by their continued direct engagement. Friday’s shooting was a traumatic event for the agency, and leadership is working to provide continued updates along with resources for healing and recovery. There will be continued opportunities for staff engagement and dialogue in the days ahead,” Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon said Tuesday.
“This is a time to stand in solidarity with our public health workforce and we hope the media will respect the moment rather than exploiting a tragedy and further exacerbating an already harrowing experience by the dedicated CDC staff,” he added.
The CDC has come under fire during the second Trump administration as conspiracy theories continue to plague the vaccines credited with halting the spread of Covid-19. On Monday, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – a longtime critic of Covid vaccinations, with a history of spreading vaccine misinformation – visited the CDC offices.
The purpose of Kennedy’s visit was “to offer condolences to the family of police officer David Rose” and “to offer support to all the CDC employees who are part of a shining star health agency around the world,” he said in an interview with Scripps News taped Monday.
When asked what would be done to stop the spread of vaccine misinformation to prevent incidents like Friday’s shooting, Kennedy said, “We don’t know enough about what the motive was of this individual.”
In an internal video sent to staff ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, Monarez said, “Science and public health should never be under attack.”
Monarez appeared emotional in the video as she pledged support for CDC employees left “shaken, saddened and deeply concerned.”
“My thoughts are with everyone impacted, and I want you to know that your safety, your well-being, and your sense of security remain my highest priority,” Monarez said. “Science and public health should never be under attack. What we do here is about protecting lives. It’s about preventing suffering and building healthier communities. Acts of violence will never weaken our resolve.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story’s headline misstated the number of rounds the shooter fired at the CDC.
CNN’s Nadia Kounang contributed to this report.
