Last Friday, nearing 5 pm, the Atlanta headquarters for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention witnessed a mass shooting, getting shot dozens of times on at least four of the buildings by a shooter by the name of Patrick Joseph White. This tragic event resulted in, death of one innocent police officer and the death of the shooter himself.

The shooter, 30–year–old Patrick Joseph White, showed his disdain for the Covid-19 vaccine greatly and decided to take drastic action. He aimed a targeted attack at the C.D.C related to Covid-19. In his process, he damaged the building and infrastructure greatly at the C.D.C and killed rookie police officer, Officer David Rose.

The main reason why this event even happened in the first place is because of the mass spread of misinformation about the truth of vaccines. Some people believe that vaccines make one even more sick, while others believe vaccines are gov’t tracking devices. These are all different kinds of conspiracy theories, all spread via misinformation. The second main reason is the constant upbringings of conspiracy theories on this topic. Some scientists and public health experts say that this event is just the latest in the ever–growing series of threats and violence against the public’s health care workers. These threats and violent acts are mainly due to the hate and distrust the public has towards vaccination. This was caused by misinformation and theories spread from masses of people, causing more and more people to believe that vaccines are not for the best. And with more major people joining the forces, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the crowd rooting for anti–vaccination only gets larger.

The shooter, Patrick Joseph White, was a 30-year-old from Kennesaw, Ga. Mr. White lived with his parents in Kennesaw. Nancy Hoalst, a neighbor to the White family, described Mr. White as a helpful and quiet man who at one point became weirdly fixated on vaccines. It was said that Mr. White targeted that attack on the C.D.C because of the Covid-19 vaccine, since he believes that the vaccine was what made him sick.

Officer David Rose of the DeKalb County Police Department, was a 33-year-old rookie officer that had been on the job for less than a year before he tragically died. Before pursuing the future as a police officer, he served in the Marines then worked for the sheriff’s office, all before he decided that he wanted to save more people. Despite the worried calls from his family, he decided to face the dangers as an officer, and completed the basic training in March. On the Friday of the shooting, Officer Rose was among some of the first to respond. and passing away.