The deranged man who fatally shot a cop at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was a known anti-vaxxer whom one neighbor described as “very unsettled.”
The shooter, identified by Georgia authorities as Patrick Joseph White of Kennesaw, just north of Marietta, was found dead Friday after opening fire on at least four CDC buildings.
While relatives of White, 30, declined comment to local news outlets in Georgia, neighbors voiced shock at his apparent violent outburst.
Law enforcement is seen near the Centers For Disease Control Global Headquarters during an active shooter incident on August 8, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. Getty Images“He was very unsettled and he very deeply believed that vaccines hurt him and were hurting other people,” said neighbor Nancy Hoalst, who also told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that White on several occasions brought up his distrust for vaccines while they were in the middle of unrelated conversations.
“He emphatically believed that,” she said, adding, “I had no idea he thought he would take it out on the CDC.”
White “seemed like an OK guy,” another neighbor said.“I communicated with him a few times. I know he did work for my grandfather around the house,” Joshua Shirah told WSB-TV Atlanta from Windchime Way on Saturday.
“Not the kind of person I thought would do that, but stuff happens.”
DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was fatally shot during the shooting on August 8, 2025. via REUTERS
A bullet hole in the door of a CVS pharmacy that Patrick Joseph White stormed into on Emory’s campus. APInvestigators swarmed White’s childhood home late Friday, Shirah told the outlet.
They stayed at the single-family, Colonial-style house worth just over $415,000 for several hours.
On Saturday, a man who answered the front door of the home declined to speak, the station reported.
“We have nothing to say,” he said.
Other neighbors recalled the gunman as helpful and friendly but noted his anti-vaccine stance and said they “noticed him looking slimmer recently,” 11Alive reporter Cody Alcorn wrote on X.
Law enforcement sources previously told CNN that White likely targeted the CDC campus after he became sick with an apparent illness he blamed on the COVID-19 vaccine, citing interviews with the shooter’s family.
DeKalb County police officer David Rose, 33, was struck and killed while responding to reports of the active shooter at the Clifton Road drugstore, which is located across the street from the CDC’s main campus.
Patrick Joseph White unleashed a barrage of bullets on the health agency before storming into a CVS located on the Emory University campus, police say. GBIThe gunman was found dead on the second floor of the CVS, though authorities have not said if his fatal wound was self-inflicted.
Rose – who joined the department in September 2024 – was rushed to Emory University Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Shirah and two others listed as living at White’s home did not return requests for comment from The Post. Other neighbors and family members could not be reached.
Ambulance at the scene of the shooting. WSB via CNNA law enforcement source said the shooter was armed with a long gun, and authorities recovered three other firearms at the scene.
“There is extensive evidence to collect due to the complex scene. Numerous interviews are being conducted,” the Georgia Bureau of Investigation wrote in a statement. “This investigation will take an extended period of time.”
White’s father had called law enforcement before the shooting to tell them he believed his son was suicidal, according to reports.
The timeline between that phone call and the shooting was not immediately clear.
With Post Wire Services
