The shimmering low-rise metal and glass towers at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were pocked with dozens of bullet holes. Cracks streaked windows. Shell casings littered a sidewalk across the street.
Law enforcement officials said that Patrick Joseph White, a 30-year-old from the suburbs of Atlanta, opened fire on the complex of buildings on Friday afternoon. He had become fixated with the coronavirus vaccine, believing that it was the cause of his own physical ailments, officials said, and he attacked the institution that has been at the center of rampant conspiracy theories and misinformation about the federal government’s response to the pandemic.
Mr. White was found fatally shot, although it was unclear if he had been killed in an exchange of gunfire with the police or it was self-inflicted, police officials said. An officer from the DeKalb County Police Department — a rookie not even a year into the job — was killed.
Investigators on Saturday were piecing together Mr. White’s history, trying to understand what precipitated the spray of gunfire.
C.D.C. officials told staff on Saturday that investigators had found that Mr. White was “very disturbed” and had reached out in recent weeks for mental health assistance, according to a recording of an all-hands call reviewed by The Times. But there had been no threats made to the C.D.C. that could have signaled the attack, the officials said.
The attack has provoked alarm and outrage from the community of public health officials and workers whose efforts have been maligned and politicized. They argue that the shooting was a manifestation of false information that has surrounded the vaccine and animosity directed at the agency.
Mr. Kennedy has been a prominent voice raising doubts about Covid vaccinations, as well as many routine immunizations. He has made provocative statements — including calling the Covid vaccine the “deadliest” ever made — that directly contradict evidence that has shown the shot to be overwhelmingly effective.
Critics of Mr. Kennedy argued that he also helped fuel the animosity directed at the C.D.C. Federal officials have blamed the agency for botching the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Mr. Kennedy has previously called the C.D.C. a “cesspool of corruption,” and a fascist enterprise. He accused C.D.C. employees of covering up vaccine harms to children, comparing it to the Catholic Church’s coverup of child sex abuse.
Posted by John3262005
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> Law enforcement officials said that Patrick Joseph White, a 30-year-old from the suburbs of Atlanta, opened fire on the complex of buildings on Friday afternoon. He had become fixated with the coronavirus vaccine, believing that it was the cause of his own physical ailments, officials said, and he attacked the institution that has been at the center of rampant conspiracy theories and misinformation about the federal government’s response to the pandemic.
The pandemic and its consequences have been an utter disaster for our democracy
What was he mad about? He already won.