As CDC employees return to office, trauma and bullet holes remain
Dozens of bullet holes remained visible at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday as employees returned to the office for the first time since last month’s deadly shooting.
Some of the roughly 150 windows that were shattered by the gunman, who fired upward of 500 shots at several buildings Aug. 8, are now covered with window film from the inside — a small barrier for the thousands who experienced that afternoon of chaos at the health agency’s headquarters in DeKalb County.
The employees were told to come back in an email from the CDC’s new chief operating officer, Lynda Chapman, who said last month the agency was taking “necessary steps to restore our workplace” and would “return to regular on-site operations” by Sept. 15.
“All staff will be expected to return to their approved offices. For those whose workspaces remain impacted, alternative on-campus space will be provided,” Chapman said in the email.
The gunfire, which lasted about 35 minutes, hit blast-resistant glass and sent shards traveling up to 50 feet, according to a CDC internal email and 911 records and dispatch reports obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The shooting left responding DeKalb police Officer David Rose dead.
On Monday, a former behavioral scientist at the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control who is also a volunteer with the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2883, a labor union representing CDC workers, said she spoke to some employees who expressed fears and anxiety this past week about returning to the office.
While no CDC employees were hurt, Vi Le said some have told her they felt they haven’t been supported in the wake of the incident.
“People are upset. They’re upset they have to go back to their buildings that are still visibly like that. Those visual reminders are not going to be fixed overnight, and they haven’t been,” Le told the AJC. “There are bullet holes in the buildings and glass. There are doors with smashed locks in high-traffic areas. And so that’s also a reminder of what happened.”
The gunman, Patrick Joseph White, left his family’s Kennesaw-area home that day with five weapons, including rifles, a shotgun and a handgun, authorities said. He eventually turned one of the guns on himself on the second floor of a CVS across the street from the CDC. At his home, investigators found a “written document that expressed the shooter’s discontent with the COVID-19 vaccinations,” officials said.
Outside the agency’s headquarters Monday afternoon, a woman was paying tribute to a memorial for Rose that has remained intact since the attack. Multicolored flower bouquets that were placed on top in the aftermath of the shooting now number in the dozens.
Several smaller posters and signs were visible nearby that showed support for the CDC, which had already experienced significant cuts by the federal government and scrutiny over vaccines under new Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In recent weeks, Le said current employees have been told not to speak to the media, which was apparent when an AJC reporter approached a half-dozen former or current workers following their shifts Monday. After being asked about their first day back, one woman said she wasn’t allowed to talk, while several others declined to comment. The woman paying tribute outside the memorial said she was a former employee, but she then placed a CDC badge in her bag and quickly walked away.
Le said the employees she messaged tried to be positive. But some told her they had not been given time off since the shooting.
Last month, the agency’s director, Susan Monarez, was fired, and at least three top CDC officials announced their resignations.
“The safety and well-being of CDC employees remain our highest priority,” a HHS spokesperson said in a statement. “HHS and CDC leadership are committed to supporting our public health workforce as they transition back to the office and reforming the agency to once again be the world’s leader in communicable disease prevention.”
To show support for the returning workers, Le said CDC alumni held an early-morning rally near the entrance, with posters that read: “CDC protects us all,” “CDC staff are public health heroes,” and “Save the CDC.” Employees also brought in baked goods, including triple chocolate cookies, apple bars, pumpkin cake and plenty of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
She said employees also told her the return-to-office mandate is frustrating since they’ve proven they can do their work remotely. She said it felt like a “purposeful demoralization of the workforce, especially when the political appointees don’t have to come into the office every day.”
According to Le, officials have added more security at the headquarters, with additional bag searches for employees. They were also working on an improved alert system, she added.
But officials have said the repairs could take weeks or months. For now, employees will continue to work in buildings with visible bullet holes that serve as a painful reminder of a day they’ll never forget.
