In a large and hastily arranged Zoom call on Saturday, about 800 rattled staffers with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tried to make sense of the trauma they endured just a day earlier when a gunman opened fire on the agency’s buildings from across the street.
They had been winding down for the weekend when more than 40 bullets smashed through their office windows, whizzing just over their cubicle walls and petrifying staffers in at least four buildings.
But Friday’s violent episode is the latest unsettling new chapter to what has been a turbulent period for the CDC. While authorities have not announced a motive for the shooting, law enforcement sources say the suspect may have targeted the CDC over health concerns he blamed on the Covid-19 vaccine.
One of the world’s leading health agencies, the CDC is tasked with protecting the health of Americans. But it has come under fire during the second Trump administration as conspiracy theories continue to plague the vaccine credited with halting the spread of the global pandemic.
The attack on the CDC offices had been targeted and deliberate, CDC leaders told staff on the call. Staffers might hear their work was targeted as a possible motivation for the shooter, leadership added.
