HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes his way to the inaugural Great American Farmers Market on the National Mall on August 4. Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP
The gunman who opened fire on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday was, according to law enforcement officials and others who knew him, obsessed with a belief that the coronavirus vaccine had harmed him.
Police said the suspect, 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White, launched his attack from inside a CVS drugstore directly across from the CDC’s main entrance in Atlanta. No CDC employees or civilians were injured, but he struck several CDC buildings and killed a DeKalb County Police officer. White was then found dead in the store, where five guns were recovered, according to a report from the Justice Department. It was unclear whether he killed himself or was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with law enforcement.
The CDC has been at the center of a long-running misinformation campaign about the government’s response to the pandemic. And Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s secretary of health and human services, has been among the loudest voices in that campaign, once describing Covid vaccines as one of the “deadliest” shots ever made, despite strong evidence that they are effective and safe.
One of White’s neighbors, Nancy Hoalst, who lived near him in Kennesaw, Georgia, told the New York Times on Saturday that White’s obsession with the vaccine came on suddenly about a year ago. “He very deeply believed that vaccines had hurt him, and that they were hurting other people,” she said.
On Friday after the shooting, the Trump administration was relatively quiet, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The White House had not made a comment, and Kennedy had only reposted a social media statement from CDC Director Susan Monarez about the shooting.
“Do they really hate CDC this much?” Dr. John Brooks, the former chief medical officer for the CDC’s emergency responses to COVID-19, told AJC. They hadn’t even offered “thoughts and prayers at this point,” he said.
On Saturday, the AJC notes, Kennedy went on his personal social media account and shared photos of himself holding a big salmon from a fishing trip. Later in the day, following more complaints, his official account on X finally shared a message of support for CDC employees. “We know how deeply unsettling this is, particularly for those working in Atlanta,” the statement says. “The shock and uncertainty that follow incidents like this are real, and they affect us all in different ways. We want everyone to know, you’re not alone. Leadership is in close coordination with CDC teams to ensure support is available on the ground.”
Previously, Kennedy has referred to the CDC as “a cesspool of corruption” and accused CDC employees of trying to hide from the public how he believes vaccines harm children. Earlier this week, he canceled almost $500 million in grants and contracts for work on mRNA vaccines, the technology used for some Covid shots. Check out reporting by my colleagues Kiera Butler and Anna Merlan for more on the health secretary’s long history of anti-vaccine comments.