A.M. ATL: Kindness on a difficult weekend

Morning, y’all. It’s a double coffee, double doughnut kind of morning — whatever you need to get your strength for the day. We’re going to cover all things CDC shooting, but then, instead of exhausting you with a bunch of other news, we’ll look at another headline from the weekend that shows off the very best of Atlanta.

Let’s get to it.

CDC SHOOTING: FACTS AND CONTEXT

Hundreds of CDC staffers sheltered in place and were trapped for hours in buildings as investigators cleared the scene.

On Friday afternoon, 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White opened fire at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, killing a police officer and littering the area with spent shell casings. White also died, though it’s still unclear how.

What happened

• The attack occurred near the Emory University campus, which means both the CDC and the university community were affected in the aftermath.
• White reportedly tried to gain access to the CDC campus. When he was turned away, he drove to an area across the street and started shooting.
• DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was shot responding to the incident and later died of his wounds. No other injuries were reported.
• Hundreds of CDC staffers sheltered in place and were trapped for hours in buildings as investigators cleared the scene.
• White used a long gun, and three other firearms were recovered at the scene.

What we know about the suspect and his beliefs

• White lived in Kennesaw with his parents. His father and neighbors said he was deeply distrustful of vaccines, and he blamed the COVID-19 vaccination for his depression.
• “He was very unsettled, and he very deeply believed that vaccines hurt him and were hurting other people,” a neighbor told the AJC.
• Officials have yet to comment on a motive.

READ MORE: Georgia gunman may have been driven by vaccine beliefs

Officer David Rose, 33, was a married father of two, with a third child on the way. He had deep ties to the Emory community and was described as a standout recruit.

READ MORE: Slain officer was called to service, colleagues say

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CDC SHOOTING: REACTIONS AND IMPACT

DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was shot responding to the incident and later died of his wounds.

Although officers haven’t publicly discussed a motive, White’s deep suspicion of vaccines has sketched a clear enough picture for many.

Members of the Trump administration expressed condolences, including Health and Human Services head Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“We know how shaken our public health colleagues feel today. No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others,” Kennedy said in a statement.

Anger at RFK Jr.

Despite the tidings, CDC workers and frustrated health care advocates place blame at the White House’s door.

• To them, Kennedy’s well-publicized vaccine skepticism, deep cuts to public health agencies, a recent $500 million funding cut for mRNA vaccine research and years of criticism of doctors and medical science have helped erode trust in public health institutions.
• “Kennedy is directly responsible for the villainization of CDC’s workforce through his continuous lies about science and vaccine safety, which have fueled a climate of hostility and mistrust,” Fired but Fighting, a network of former CDC professionals, stated.

READ MORE: Georgia politicians respond to the shooting

Another name haunts the incident

“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work, because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down. … We want to put them in trauma.”

• Those are the words of Russell Vought, now the Trump administration’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, uttered in a video before he was appointed to his position.
• Fired but Fighting and other advocates are calling for his resignation.

READ MORE: ‘Terrifying.’ CDC employees speak to lingering fear after shooting

CDC workers described their grief and anger following Friday’s shooting, the latest incident in what they say has been a monthslong campaign of terror and uncertainty from the Trump administration.

READ MORE: A year of trauma at the CDC

NOW, A MOMENT OF BROTHERHOOD

Whew. That was a lot. While the pain of the CDC attack played out on the national stage, another symbol of Atlanta showed us a true example of brotherhood.

Follow me, even if you’re not a football fan.

• On Friday night, the Atlanta Falcons played the Detroit Lions in their first preseason game.
• The Falcons were trailing 17-10 with nearly the entire fourth quarter left when Lions safety Morice Norris suffered a capital-S serious neck injury. He had to be removed from the field by ambulance.
• Neck injuries are no joke in football, and player health and safety has been a growing issue in the NFL and among its players. It’s hard to imagine a more terrifying moment for a player or his teammates.
• The Falcons had possession at the time, and more than enough clock left to win the game — or more important in the preseason, get in some valuable audition time for players trying to make the team. Rather than finish it out, the Falcons and Lions players gathered shoulder to shoulder in a circle of prayer on the field, letting the clock run down until officials called the game.

READ MORE: How Falcons, Lions showed brotherhood on the field

Plus, the most important news: Morice Norris gave an update on his condition Saturday, saying: “Amen, Amen. I’m all good man. Don’t stress it.”

NEWS BITES

🚲 Three ‘elves’ are cycling from Germany to Finland in a pre-Christmas display

The story gets a lot more heartwarming (and a lot less creepy) when you learn the elves are actually postal workers delivering letters to Santa. Adorable.

💵 Nonprofit gives each Athens high school senior a $1,000 investment portfolio

Plus, a bonus gift: Getting used to cumbersome money language earlier in life.

🏅 Olympic gymnast is trying to make his sport cool, starting with his uniform

We love a fashion-forward king, although it stings to hear stirrup pants aren’t cool.

🥞 The Milwaukee Brewers are selling ‘pocket pancakes’ after their coach pulled a pancake out of his pocket and offered some around during an interview

A: That man is my style of weird. B: In high school I knew a young man who would buy several plain baked potatoes on baked potato day, stow them in his pockets and eat them like hand fruit throughout the day. It still haunts me.

ON THIS DATE

Aug. 11, 1990

From the front page of The Atlanta Journal: In Statesboro, 1,000,000 reasons to be ticked off. Georgia Southern University ... is now the home of the world’s largest collection of ticks, a “national treasure” that includes more than a million carefully cataloged ticks — including one well-pickled whopper, the size of a large acorn, that ranks as the world’s largest. The Smithsonian Institution dispatched three truckloads of ticks to the Statesboro school this week to form the core of a new research center on ticks and tick-borne diseases.