It’s a week of heavy emotions at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Employees are gathering to commemorate last August’s shooting that killed a police officer and left many connected to the CDC shaken. Also marking the anniversary this year was Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy spoke at a CDC ceremony on Friday to unveil a memorial plaque honoring 33-year-old DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose.
“Rose exemplified our motto, which I agree with wholeheartedly, which is honor, service, and partnership. And that was the definition of Officer Rose,” said DeKalb County Police Officer Elise Wells.
It was Aug. 8, 2025, during the afternoon rush hour when a gunman opened fire outside the CDC’s Roybal Campus on Clifton Road NE, shooting hundreds of rounds at the buildings and shattering windows.
Authorities identified the gunman as Patrick Joseph White, 30, of Kennesaw, who killed Rose and then himself.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation found documents left behind at White’s home, where the shooter had “expressed beliefs indicating his discontent with the COVID-19 vaccine.”
Kennedy’s two official appearances at the CDC were off limits to reporters.
In an internal email sent to staff on Thursday, CDC officials invited employees to attend Friday’s memorial plaque dedication ceremony in Building 21 with Kennedy. Staff members were also invited to a town hall event on Friday afternoon hosted by Kennedy, along with National Institutes of Health director and acting CDC director Jay Bhattacharya in Building 19.
Multiple current and former CDC workers told WABE they worried Kennedy’s visit would overshadow remembrances for Rose.
For others, the one-year anniversary was another reminder of what’s been a traumatic year at the agency that has also lost hundreds of employees, funding and programs under Kennedy.
“Of all people, we felt like that was odd, like of all days to have the one person who is most responsible for the entire buckling and crushing of this institution to be here on this day is pretty offensive. I’m not sure who decided that was a good idea,” said one current employee who is not authorized to speak for the CDC and fears retribution.
Trump administration officials maintain the cuts to CDC were needed to curb what it calls waste, fraud and abuse at federal agencies.
Now, after the U.S. Senate has confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz to head the CDC, she will become its first permanent director in about a year. She previously served as deputy surgeon general during the first Trump administration.
Schwartz is poised to inherit a CDC where staff morale remains low, and there is concern about the agency’s continued capacity to protect the public health, especially in light of recent outbreaks, including measles and cyclosporiasis.
A community memorial service for Rose is scheduled for Saturday at Glenn Memorial Church on the Emory University Campus.
