CDC Shooter Told His Father The COVID-19 Vaccine Made Him Suicidal And Depressed

This is an interesting twist in such a tragic incident.

The Georgia man who opened fire on the CDC headquarters in Georgia, which left a police officer dead, blamed COVID-19 vaccines for his depression and suicidal thoughts.

Patrick Joseph White, 30, has been identified as the shooter and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities have yet to release details on whether he shot himself or was shot by responding officers.

Politico provided closer details on the story:

A Georgia man who opened fire on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters, shooting dozens of rounds into the sprawling complex and killing a police officer, had blamed the Covid-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Saturday.

The 30-year-old shooter also tried to get into the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta but was stopped by guards before driving to a pharmacy across the street and opening fire late Friday afternoon, the official said. He was armed with five guns, including at least one long gun, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.

DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was mortally wounded while responding.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., whose skepticism of vaccines has been a cornerstone of his career, voiced support for CDC employees Saturday. But some laid-off CDC employees said Kennedy shares responsibility for the violence and should resign.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation named Patrick Joseph White as the shooter, but authorities haven’t said whether he was killed by police or killed himself.

The suspect’s father contacted police and identified his son as the possible shooter, the law enforcement official told AP. The father said his son had been upset over the death of the son’s dog, and he had also become fixated on the coronavirus vaccine, according to the official. The family lives in Kennesaw, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb about 25 miles northwest of CDC headquarters.

A voicemail left at a phone number listed publicly for White’s family wasn’t returned Saturday.

The shooting left gaping bullet holes in windows across the CDC campus, where thousands work on critical disease research. Employees huddled under lockdown for hours while investigators gathered evidence. Staff was encouraged to work from home Monday or take leave.
At least four CDC buildings were hit, Director Susan Monarez said on X.

Sources tell @ABC News the suspect in the deadly Atlanta attack blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal. The new details come as we learn more about the officer who died in the gun battle. @ReporterFaith has more. https://t.co/AqeFZmDAiU pic.twitter.com/WJmXf1QOpC

— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) August 10, 2025

🚨 BREAKING: Study Identifies 86 Serious Neuropsychiatric Safety Signals Linked to COVID-19 Vaccination

⚠️CDC/FDA safety thresholds breached (PRR ≥ 2 compared to flu shot) for:

📈 Dementia – 140× more likely
📈 Suicidal thoughts – 150× more likely
📈 Homicidal ideation – 25×… pic.twitter.com/AgXb4w223C

— Nicolas Hulscher, MPH (@NicHulscher) April 14, 2025

AP reported a neighbor of White said there were no signs he would attack the CDC

White’s father, who contacted police and identified his son as the possible shooter, said White had been upset over the death of his dog and also had become fixated on the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the law enforcement official.

A neighbor of White told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that White “seemed like a good guy” but spoke with her multiple times about his distrust of COVID-19 vaccines in unrelated conversations.

“He was very unsettled, and he very deeply believed that vaccines hurt him and were hurting other people,” Nancy Hoalst, told the Atlanta newspaper. “He emphatically believed that.”

But Hoalst said she never believed White would be violent: “I had no idea he thought he would take it out on the CDC.”