CDC Shooter Blamed COVID-19 Vax for Making Him Depressed, Suicidal
Newly released 911 call transcripts reveal the harrowing moments a Georgia father frantically tried to warn authorities that his own son might be responsible for a deadly attack at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Kenneth White placed multiple emergency calls last Friday as his son, 47-year-old Patrick Joseph White, unleashed a hail of gunfire at the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters, killing a police officer and shattering the quiet of an ordinary afternoon. The elder White told dispatchers he feared the worst.
“I’m very worried that he might have been involved in this shooting today,” Kenneth said in one of the recorded calls obtained by local news outlet 11Alive. “I can’t get any information from anybody. I’ve called the DeKalb County 911 number three times and left detailed information, and no one ever called us back. I don’t know if he was involved. I need some help.”
A History of Red Flags
Records indicate that the White household had been on law enforcement’s radar long before the shooting. At least ten emergency calls had been made from the home in the past two years, including reports of suicide threats and domestic disturbances. The newly disclosed information raises questions about whether warning signs were adequately addressed — and whether intervention could have prevented last week’s tragedy.
Investigators say that on the day of the rampage, Patrick White broke into a locked safe at his parents’ home and took several of his father’s firearms. Witnesses told authorities that security personnel at the CDC initially blocked his vehicle from entering the campus. Instead, White parked near a pharmacy across the street, retrieved his weapons, and opened fire from the sidewalk.
A Deadly Assault on Federal Property
Over the course of the assault, White fired more than 180 rounds, shattering roughly 150 blast-resistant windows. Officers rushed to the scene, and in the exchange of gunfire, DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was fatally shot. Rose, a veteran officer, was remembered by colleagues as a dedicated public servant who “died protecting others.”
Authorities say White’s attack was driven, at least in part, by deep resentment over COVID-19 vaccinations. Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said that materials recovered from White’s home — including handwritten notes and digital records — expressed his belief that the vaccines had left him depressed and suicidal. The writings also showed a desire to “make the public aware of his discontent with the vaccine.”
White’s life ended shortly after the shooting began. Investigators say he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, leaving his father’s desperate warnings tragically unheeded.
