A gunman opened fire at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta late Friday afternoon, wounding a local police officer but striking no other people.
Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at a press briefing that law enforcement from multiple jurisdictions swarmed into the area and appeared to engage in a shootout, but the gunman was later found dead on the second floor of a building that houses a CVS drug store across the street from the CDC.
“He had been struck by gunfire, but we don’t know where that gunfire came from,” Schierbaum said.
Police have not yet released the name of the shooter.
No civilians were hit by gunfire, officials said, although four people came to the hospital suffering from signs of stress.
Initial 911 calls came in at about 4:50 p.m. and officers quickly found a DeKalb County police officer critically wounded on the scene, Schierbaum said. He was extracted and rushed to the hospital while the massive police response continued until the gunman was found dead.
DeKalb County Police PIO Officer Elise Wells said that the wounded officer “was responding to the threat of the active shooter.”
There were reports that the officer had died, but none of the officials at the news conference could confirm that information. DeKalb County officials were expected to speak to media later Friday night with an update.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said that 92 children were trapped at a nearby daycare but that all those children were safe and were being reunited with their family at a nearby school.
A law enforcement official told CNN that investigators learned from the gunman’s family that he was either sick or believed he was sick and blamed his illness on the COVID-19 vaccine. Officials did not confirm that information at a news conference, although Dickens said that the gunman “has a interest in certain things.”
Multiple bullet holes were seen in windows of CDC buildings.
Law enforcement also told CNN that the gunman’s father had informed police that he believed his son was suicidal, although it’s not clear when he made that call to law enforcement.
State and federal officials will be assisting the Atlanta Police Department in the investigation.
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[Featured image: Armed police officers walk near the scene of shooting at the Emory University in Atlanta on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)]
