ATLANTA (AP) — On Saturday, authorities identified a 30-year-old man from suburban Atlanta as the gunman responsible for opening fire at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, resulting in the death of a police officer and causing widespread alarm at the health institution and nearby Emory University.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed the shooter as Patrick Joseph White from Kennesaw, Georgia. The incident left DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose fatally injured as he responded on Friday. Fortunately, no one else was struck by the gunfire, although four individuals sought medical attention for anxiety-related symptoms. Many employees at the CDC took cover in their offices during the shooting spree.

Authorities reported that White fired at the campus from across the street, causing extensive damage, which included visible bullet holes in windows and a sidewalk near a CVS pharmacy littered with bullet shells. The attack triggered a significant law enforcement reaction at one of the country’s leading health research facilities.

A law enforcement official disclosed to The Associated Press that White was denied entry by security guards initially before proceeding to a location near the pharmacy to commence shooting. White was equipped with a long gun, and investigators found at least three additional firearms in his possession at the scene. The official spoke under anonymity due to a lack of authorization to comment on the ongoing investigation.

White’s father contacted the police to identify his son as the possible shooter. He shared with officials that his son had been distraught over the passing of his dog and was also troubled about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Kennedy reaches out to CDC staff

CDC Director Susan Monarez stated in a social media post that four buildings at the CDC were struck, and multiple bullet impacts were visible from outside the premises. Photos taken by staff displayed windows riddled with bullet holes in sections where thousands of experts conduct vital disease research.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic shooting at CDC’s Atlanta campus that took the life of officer David Rose,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said Saturday. “We know how shaken our public health colleagues feel today. No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others,” his statement said.

Some laid-off employees rejected the expressions of solidarity Kennedy made in a “Dear colleagues” email, and called for his resignation.

“Kennedy is directly responsible for the villainization of CDC’s workforce through his continuous lies about science and vaccine safety, which have fueled a climate of hostility and mistrust,” Fired but Fighting said.

The group also called for the resignation of Russell Vought, pointing to a video recorded before Trump appointed him Office of Management and Budget director with orders to dismantle much of the federal government.

“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” Vought said in the video, obtained by ProPublica and the research group Documented. “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work, because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down … We want to put them in trauma.”

A request for comment from Vought’s agency was not immediately returned.

Fired workers blame Trump administration

Hundreds of CDC staffers sheltered in place during the shooting and many couldn’t leave for hours afterward on Friday as investigators interviewed witnesses and gathered evidence. The staff was encouraged to work from home Monday or take leave.

CDC workers already faced uncertain futures due to funding cuts, layoffs and political disputes over their agency’s mission. “Save the CDC” signs are common in some Atlanta-area neighborhoods, and a group of laid-off employees has been demanding action from elected officials to push back against the Trump administration’s cuts.

This shooting was the “physical embodiment of the narrative that has taken over, attacking science, and attacking our federal workers,” said Sarah Boim, a former CDC communications staffer who was fired this year during wave of terminations.

“It’s devastating,” said Boim. “When I saw the picture of those windows having been struck by bullets I really lost it,” she said, her voice cracking.

A voicemail left at a phone number listed for White’s family in public records was not immediately returned Saturday morning.

A distrust of COVID-19 vaccines

A neighbor of White told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that White spoke with her multiple times about his distrust of COVID-19 vaccines.

Nancy Hoalst, who lives in same cul-de-sac as White’s family, said he seemed like a good guy” while doing yard work and walking dogs for neighbors, but would bring up vaccines even in unrelated conversations.

“He was very unsettled and he very deeply believed that vaccines hurt him and were hurting other people.” 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.”

The gunman died at the scene, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said Friday, adding: “we do not know at this time whether that was from officers or if it was self-inflicted.”

Slain officer leaves wife and 3 kids

He had been armed with a long gun, and authorities recovered three other firearms at the scene, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

Rose, 33, was a former Marine who served in Afghanistan, graduated from the police academy in March and “quickly earned the respect of his colleagues for his dedication, courage and professionalism,” DeKalb County said.

“This evening, there is a wife without a husband. There are three children, one unborn, without a father,” DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson said.

Outside the complex that includes four floors of apartments above the CVS store, some people came Saturday to witness what had happened.

Sam Atkins, who lives in Stone Mountain, said gun violence feels like “a fact of life” now: “This is an everyday thing that happens here in Georgia.”

The newly-confirmed Monarez hailed the police response and called off in-person work on Monday, telling staff in a Friday email that the shooting brought “fear, anger and worry to all of us.”

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Associated Press contributors include Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington, D.C., and Anthony Izaguirre in Albany, New York.