Employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Monday recounted the terrifying incident last week when a responding police officer was k.i.l.l.e.d by a shooter who f.i.r.e.d almost 200 rounds at several office buildings.
Under the condition of anonymity, four CDC employees told CBS News that they were “very saddened and frustrated” by what they described as a lack of leadership after Friday’s s.h.o.o.t.i.n.g. Three of the four employees are moms, and each of them saw the s.h.o.o.t.i.n.g differently: one was at home, one was in the daycare with her kids, one was inside a building standing in a window that would later be shot out, and one was walking to their car.
“I was walking to my car. I heard a very, very distinct and crisp pop, pop, pop, pop,” one CDC employee said. “I knew that I had to get myself to safety because if I continued walking across the courtyard, I could potentially be in a killing field.”
The pops heard were among at least 180 s.h.o.t.s hitting at least 150 windows and doors on the CDC campus, according to two people with direct knowledge of the investigative findings from the ongoing probe of the shooting. Glass shards were propelled 30 to 60 feet into multiple rooms.
A second CDC worker said she wasn’t sure at first whether the sounds she heard were construction noise or g.u.n.s.h.o.t.s, then she saw a daycare teacher running with three kids. The noise changed when the b.u.l.l.e.t.s began hitting her building, she said. She recalled sheltering in place in her building for 2 hours without knowing where the gunman was.
The s.h.o.o.t.e.r, identified as 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White, d.i.e.d during the incident, police said. It remains unclear whether White d.i.e.d by self-inflicted g.u.n.s.h.o.t or by police g.u.n.f.i.r.e. His motive is still unknown at this stage of the investigation, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said on Friday.
Several of White’s neighbors told that he was outspokenly against vaccines, and a law enforcement source said authorities were looking into the possibility that the g.u.n.m.a.n believed the COVID-19 vaccines had made him sick.
When asked whether they “saw this” coming, another employee said, “I wouldn’t say we saw it coming. I would say more that it wasn’t a surprise.”
“The CDC’s been vulnerable for a really long time,” she said. “It’s shocking but not surprising.”
The last employee told that she was leaving a daycare located in front of the CDC campus with her children and heading toward her car when they heard g.u.n.s.h.o.t.s. She said she sprinted back into the daycare and hid with about eight children inside the bathroom, the only place without windows.
“My kids kept asking what was that loud popping noise,” she said. “I’m still figuring out how this has affected my children.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy on Monday visited the CDC headquarters, seeing the damage and meeting with the widow of the police officer k.i.l.l.e.d, David Rose.
In a statement on Monday, the HHS referred to Kennedy’s remarks shared in his X – post on Saturday: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic s.h.o.o.t.i.n.g at CDC’s Atlanta campus that took the life of officer David Rose. We stand with his wife and three children and the entire CDC family.”
At a news conference following Kennedy’s visit, a spokesperson for the CDC Union AFGE Local 2883, which represents approximately 2,300 members, said the group found out about the shooting before the CDC sent a systemwide alert.
The union criticized Kennedy following his visit, saying, “He spent less time on the ground than the attacker did.” They called for improved communication, as well as stepped up security, including 24/7 perimeter armed guards across campuses, installation of bulletproof glass, weapon detection measures and more extensive evacuation planning.
The CDC employees said they expect more from the health secretary, hoping he would condemn the rhetoric that they believe led to the s.h.o.o.t.i.n.g.
One employee remarked, “I believe the difficulty is that it would be hard for anyone to trust that he’s honest,” referring to Kennedy, who has faced backlash for his previous anti-vaccine remarks. “He has been disparaging… the administration as a whole has been disparaging the CDC and our work.”
