A gunman unleashed gunfire at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta late Friday afternoon, resulting in the death of a local police officer, though no others were injured.
The identity of the shooter has not been disclosed; he was discovered deceased on the second floor of a building containing a CVS drugstore at Emory Point, situated opposite the CDC, according to Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum at a news briefing.
“He had been struck by gunfire, but we don’t know where that gunfire came from,” Schierbaum said.
DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson and Interim Police Chief Greg Padrick confirmed the police officer’s death, who was shot while responding to initial reports of shooting. Padrick withheld the officer’s name but mentioned it would be released later.
“Today is a very dark day in DeKalb County,” stated Cochran-Johnson. “This evening, there is a wife without a husband. There are three children, one unborn, without a father. There is a mother and a father as well as siblings who also share in this traumatic loss.”
Both officials asked for prayers for the officer’s family and for the DeKalb County family at large.
Initial 911 calls were received around 4:50 p.m., and officers swiftly discovered the critically injured DeKalb County police officer at the scene, Schierbaum noted. He was evacuated and rushed to the hospital as the extensive police operation persisted until the gunman was found dead.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens reported that 92 children were confined at a nearby daycare, but fortunately, all were unharmed and were being reunited with their families at a nearby school.
A law enforcement official told CNN that investigators learned from the gunman’s family that he was either sick or believed he was sick and blamed his illness on the COVID-19 vaccine. Officials did not confirm that information at a news conference, although Dickens said that the gunman “has a interest in certain things.”
Multiple bullet holes were seen in windows of CDC buildings.
Law enforcement also told CNN that the gunman’s father had informed police that he believed his son was suicidal, although it’s not clear when he made that call to law enforcement.
State and federal officials will be assisting the Atlanta Police Department in the investigation. Schierbaum said that further information would be released as the investigation continues.
