After CDC shooting, its employees turn their anger to RFK Jr. and Trump

KENNESAW, Georgia A gaunt Patrick White approached his neighbor on her porch last year to deliver a warning, she recalled. Coronavirus vaccines harm...

KENNESAW, Georgia - A gaunt Patrick White approached his neighbor on her porch last year to deliver a warning, she recalled. Coronavirus vaccines harmed him and others. Authorities were covering this up.

On Friday afternoon, he fired scores of bullets at the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, officials allege, forcing hundreds of workers into lockdown as gunfire bombarded windows around them. White and a responding police office - a father of two with a third on the way - died.

Investigators say White targeted the public health agency because of his beliefs about coronavirus vaccines, according to two CDC officials briefed on the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Though law enforcement has not officially announced a motive behind the attack, for many in public health, the shooting seemed to vindicate their long-running fears that the backlash to their work during the coronavirus pandemic could turn deadly. Some left the field after a vitriolic response to mandates for masking and vaccination. Armed protesters gathered outside the homes of health officials. Some health officials faced death threats, including Anthony S. Fauci, one of the leaders of the federal coronavirus response.

Days after the shooting, the initial shock has morphed into anger for many CDC employees, according to interviews with more than a dozen of them, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.