By MIKE STOBBE
NEW YORK (AP) — The man who attacked the CDC headquarters in Atlanta on Friday fired more than 180 shots into the campus and broke about 150 windows, with bullets piercing “blast-resistant” windows and spattering glass shards into numerous rooms, according to information circulated internally at the agency.
It may take weeks or even months to replace windows and clean up the damage, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention personnel said.
A Georgia man who had blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal opened fire late Friday, killing a police officer. No one at CDC was injured.
The shooter was stopped by CDC security guards before driving to a nearby pharmacy and opening fire late Friday afternoon, a law enforcement official has told the AP. The official wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. The 30-year-old man, Patrick Joseph White, later died, but authorities haven’t said whether he was killed by police or killed himself.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. toured the CDC campus on Monday. CDC security pointed out broken windows across multiple buildings, including the main guard booth, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services statement.
HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill and CDC Director Susan Monarez accompanied him, according to the statement.
Kennedy also visited the DeKalb County Police Department, where he met with the police chief. Later. He also met privately with the widow of the fallen officer, David Rose.
Monarez posted a statement on social media Friday night that said at least four CDC buildings were hit in the attack.
The extent of the damage became more clear during a weekend CDC leadership meeting. Two CDC employees who were told about what was discussed at the meeting described details to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to reveal the information. Details also were also in an agency memo seen by an AP reporter.
Building 21, which houses Monarez’s office, was hit by the largest number of bullets. CDC officials did not say if her office was hit.
CDC employees were advised to work from home this week.
Kennedy issued a statement Saturday that said “no one should face violence while working to protect the health of others,” and that top federal health officials were ”actively supporting CDC staff.”
He did not speak to the media during his visit Monday.
A retired CDC official, Stephan Monroe, said he worried about the long-term impact the attack would have on young scientists’ willingness to go to work for the government.
“I’m concerned that this is this is going to be a generational hit,” said Monroe, speaking to a reporter near the corner where a poster had been set up in honor of Rose.
Kennedy was a leader in a national anti-vaccine movement before President Donald Trump selected him to oversee federal health agencies, and has made false and misleading statements about the safety and effectiveness of about COVID-19 shots and other vaccines.
Years of false rhetoric about vaccines and public health was bound to “take a toll on people’s mental health,” and “leads to violence,” said Tim Young, a CDC employee who retired in April.
Dr. Jerome Adams, the U.S. surgeon general during President Donald Trump’s first administration, said Sunday that health leaders should appreciate the weight of their words.
“We have to understand people are listening,” Adams told “Face the Nation” on CBS. “When you make claims that have been proven false time and time again about safety and efficacy of vaccines, that can cause unintended consequences.”
AP reporters Alanna Durkin Richer and Charlotte Kramon contributed to this report.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.