In the year leading up to Friday afternoon’s shooting, Patrick Joseph White spoke increasingly with a neighbor about his distrust of the COVID-19 vaccine.

White, named as the suspected shooter, was killed after he opened fire on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters on Friday. The shooter killed a police officer, but no civilians were harmed, authorities said.

The 30-year-old was known as a handyman of sorts in his quiet west Cobb neighborhood, regularly mowing lawns, trimming shrubs and walking dogs for his neighbors.

But in recent months, something seemed to change, said Nancy Hoalst, who lives directly across the street from White’s family. She said White regularly brought up his distrust of vaccines, even during casual conversations that were entirely unrelated.

“He was very unsettled and he very deeply believed that vaccines hurt him and were hurting other people.” Hoalst said. “He emphatically believed that.”

Bullet holes are visible in a CDC building on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025, after a deadly shooting Friday. Patrick Joseph White was named as the suspected shooter. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

A man who answered the door at White’s listed address on Saturday declined to speak with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Untouched in the middle of the driveway was a copy of Saturday’s newspaper which included a story about the CDC shooting on the front page.

Hoalst, who has lived in the neighborhood about five years, said she always knew White to be friendly. In the fall, he would take it upon himself to blow the leaves off her lawn and driveway ahead of Halloween and the influx of trick-or-treaters.

“He seemed like a good guy,” she said. “He would volunteer to walk dogs. He did good things.”

While he may have seemed a little peculiar, Hoalst said she never knew her neighbor to be violent in any way.

“I didn’t know he had those tendencies,” she said. “I had no idea he thought he would take it out on the CDC.”

Other neighbors said they, too, were surprised when a SWAT team descended on their quiet street late Friday night before spending nearly four hours at White’s home.

“I always thought he was a pretty stand-up guy — quiet, but never confrontational,” said Josh Shirah, 22, who grew up on White’s cul-de-sac. “I was never worried about him doing something like this.”

Shirah said he often would see White with his lawn mower helping other neighbors with their lawns.

Shirah said White, who lived with both parents, didn’t talk about much and never seemed to have many friends. But nothing about his neighbor ever raised any suspicions, he said.

The two never discussed vaccines, said Shirah, who was shocked when he found out his neighbor was named as the suspect in Friday’s shooting.

Flowers are left outside the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025, after a deadly shooting Friday in Atlanta. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Another of White’s neighbors described a strange encounter he had with White about a month ago in their west Cobb neighborhood.

Nick Shatus told the AJC he was driving home with his parents from visiting his sister in Alabama when White rang their Ring doorbell and was trying to tell them something.

Shatus, 26, said he could not understand what White was saying on the Ring because of poor cell service.

When they got home within a couple of hours, Shatus said he and his mother wanted toask White what he had been trying to tell them.

“We thought it was an emergency because we don’t talk to him and he was at our house,” Shatus said.

They found White standing under a fig tree with his little white dog outside a house across the street. Shatus said he could smell alcohol and that White appeared intoxicated.

White told them he had been doing some work at another neighbor’s house and “heard bats in our attic, which is weird because we’ve never heard them inside the house,” Shatus said. “We were like, well, thanks for letting us know.”

That was the only time Shatus spoke with White, he said, though he often had seen him walking his dog around the neighborhood.

“He didn’t really act strange, other than the day we found him under the bush,” Shatus said.

Authorities have not confirmed reports that the man’s attack in front of the CDC headquarters was motivated by issues with the COVID-19 vaccine. The New York Times reported that the man’s father had called authorities earlier on Friday, saying his son was suicidal.

The FBI referred all questions from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to the GBI, which declined to comment.

The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment about the motive from the AJC.