Authorities have identified the police officer killed during a gunman’s attack near the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta on Friday as 33-year-old David Rose, a recently hired member of the DeKalb County Police Department.
Rose, who joined the department in September, leaves behind a pregnant wife and two young children. “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 during a press briefing. She urged the public to rally around the grieving family, noting that Rose’s parents and siblings are also enduring the devastating loss.
The deadly encounter began when an armed man opened fire on the CDC’s Roybal Campus, located near Emory University. Gunshots also erupted at a CVS in the Emory Point development, across the street from the CDC. Officer Rose was found critically wounded at the scene and rushed to the hospital, where he later died.
Police located the gunman on an upper floor above the CVS. He died during an exchange of gunfire with officers, though it remains unclear whether his fatal injuries were self-inflicted or caused by police return fire. Officials believe the shooter’s primary target was the CDC, not Emory University.
According to CNN, the attacker’s relatives told investigators he had recently fallen ill and blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for his condition. His identity has not yet been released.
The attack prompted a campus-wide emergency at Emory University. Students reported hearing gunshots late Friday afternoon, and the school sent an urgent alert at 4:50 p.m. advising students to “RUN. HIDE. FIGHT.” The lockdown was lifted just after 7 p.m., when police confirmed the shooter was dead and that there was no longer a threat to the university or surrounding neighborhoods.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said no civilians were injured. However, bullets struck at least four CDC buildings, with images on social media showing shattered windows marked by bullet holes. A CDC employee told CNN he witnessed a man walk up to the front steps of the campus, pull out a rifle, and open fire.
Investigators said the gunman was armed with four weapons — two handguns, a rifle, and a shotgun — and was wearing what appeared to be a surgical mask. Despite the gunfire, the CDC campus was not breached. At 10 p.m., the agency sent an all-clear message to staff, noting that law enforcement had finished clearing buildings and confirmed there was no ongoing danger.
The incident caused panic among parents of the 92 children in the CDC’s on-site daycare. Shelter-in-place orders initially prevented parents from retrieving their children, but they were reunited approximately five hours after the shooting began.
CDC Director Susan Monarez, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp each praised Officer Rose’s bravery and sacrifice in the line of duty.
