Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees in Atlanta on Monday recalled the harrowing moment a gunman fired nearly 200 shots at multiple office buildings last week, killing a responding police officer.
Four CDC workers, who were not authorized to speak publicly, told CBS News under the condition of anonymity that they were “deeply disappointed and frustrated” by an apparent lack of leadership following Friday’s shooting. Three of the four employees are mothers and all of them had differing experiences of the gunfire: one was inside a building standing in a window that would be later shot out, one was inside the daycare with her children, one was walking to their car and another was at home.
“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 shots 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 gunshots, then she saw a daycare teacher running with three kids. The noise changed when the bullets began hitting her building, she said. She recalled sheltering in place in her building for 2 hours without knowing where the gunman was.
The shooter, identified as 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White, died during the incident, police said. It remains unclear whether White died by self-inflicted gunshot or by police gunfire. His motive is still unknown at this stage of the investigation, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said on Friday.
Several of White’s neighbors told CBS News that he was outspokenly against vaccines, and a law enforcement source said authorities were looking into the possibility that the gunman 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 CBS News that she was leaving a daycare located in front of the CDC campus with her children and heading toward her car when they heard gunshots. 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 killed, 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 shooting 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 who spoke to CBS News said they expect more from the health secretary, hoping he would condemn the rhetoric that they believe led to the shooting.
“I think the challenge is that it would be hard for anyone to trust that he’s sincere,” one employee said in reference to Kennedy, who has been criticized for his past anti-vaccine statements. “He has been trashing … the whole administration has been trashing the CDC and the work that we do.”
contributed to this report.
Dr. Céline Gounder, an internist, epidemiologist and infectious disease specialist, is a CBS News medical contributor as well as senior fellow and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News.
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