- 5 months ago
On Tuesday, law enforcement from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the FBI held a press briefing on the shooting at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you everybody for being here this morning.
00:02As Sarah mentioned, I'm Chris Hosey.
00:04I'm the director here at Georgia Bureau Investigation.
00:07And I'm joined up here this morning by Special Agent Charge Paul Brown
00:12of the FBI Atlanta Field Office.
00:15Interim Police Chief Gregory Padrick from DeKalb Police Department,
00:20DeKalb County Police Department.
00:22Assistant Chief Carvin Ties from Atlanta Police Department.
00:25Chief Burt Bootnick from Emory University Police Department.
00:31Members of the Georgia Bureau Investigation also present here with us this morning.
00:38Myself and SAC Brown will be the two speakers this morning.
00:42We will open up for questions towards the end,
00:45and we will address those questions ourselves.
00:48The others up here this morning will not.
00:51They are here for solidarity.
00:53Obviously, in the loss of one of our own this morning.
00:59So with that, I will get started.
01:02And then, like I said, we'll try to answer some questions towards the end
01:06that are pertinent that we can discuss at this point of the investigation.
01:10As Sarah mentioned, we're here this morning to provide further information
01:13and updates regarding the investigation into the incidents
01:16that occurred last Friday afternoon, August 8th, near the CDC and Emory University.
01:23Firstly, and most importantly, our hearts and prayers go to the family, friends,
01:29and colleagues of DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose,
01:32who was killed in the line of duty during this incident.
01:36He served with honor, courage, and unwavering dedication.
01:40His sacrifice will never be forgotten, and his commitment to protecting others
01:46is a profound testament to the very best of the law enforcement profession.
01:53Again, our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, his agency, and the community which he served.
01:59Our investigation obviously began on Friday afternoon
02:05and continued throughout the night into early Saturday morning.
02:09And as I mentioned earlier, that investigation continues as we speak
02:13through our agents and assisting law enforcement,
02:16conducting numerous interviews, collecting evidence,
02:19and that evidence being analyzed as well.
02:22Concerning the shooter in this case, Patrick Joseph White,
02:25during our investigation and as lastly on Friday evening, late Friday evening,
02:33his family was fully cooperating with the investigation.
02:37Our first encounter with the family came late Friday night into Saturday morning
02:42when agents and assisting law enforcement met with the parents at their residence.
02:48Here's what we can release at this time regarding the shooter
02:51and the circumstances around the investigation to this point.
02:55The shooter had no known criminal history.
02:59Evidence in this investigation indicates that the shooter had recently verbalized
03:03thoughts of suicide, which even led to law enforcement being contacted
03:08several weeks prior to the incident.
03:12A search warrant executed at the residence of the shooter revealed
03:16written documentation that expressed the shooter's discontent
03:20with the COVID-19 vaccinations.
03:23These documents are currently being examined by GBI certified profilers,
03:29and they are being shared, have been shared, and will continue to be shared
03:32with the FBI Atlanta Field Office.
03:35Preliminary information from DeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office indicates
03:39that Officer David Rose's injuries were caused by one of the shooter's weapons.
03:45The shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
03:49Further forensic testing of the firearms evidence will be conducted by the GBI crime lab.
03:57Additionally, over 500 shell casings have been recovered from the crime scene area.
04:04A total of five firearms, along with other evidence,
04:08has been recovered from the scene and will be submitted for further forensic testing.
04:12Close to 200 rounds impacted six of the CDC buildings.
04:20Electronic items seized in the case are undergoing digital forensic examination,
04:25and agents have and are continuing to conduct numerous interviews,
04:30review video evidence as well that was recovered.
04:35Currently, in addition to that, currently our investigation reveals
04:38that the rounds fired by the Emory police officer did not strike the subject.
04:45The complexity of this investigation requires a great deal of collaboration,
04:49which started Friday night and continues to this day,
04:52along with information sharing between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies,
04:57many of which are represented here today.
05:00We don't anticipate any further updates at this time.
05:04However, if anything pertinent is developed concerning this investigation,
05:09you will be notified and it will be posted on our website.
05:13I'll now call Special Agent in Charge Paul Brown to the podium.
05:19Thank you, Director Hosey.
05:21I'm Paul Brown, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Atlantis Division.
05:26Thank you for being here with us today.
05:28First, I want to recognize Officer Rose, who responded, one of the first on the scene,
05:36and died a hero protecting his community.
05:39Our thoughts and prayers go out to Officer Rose's family, friends, and colleagues.
05:45So the FBI responded along with our partners Friday night.
05:48And as Director Hosey said, with nearly 500 rounds fired
05:55and nearly 200 rounds striking facilities on the CDC campus,
06:01that's been a focus of ours to process that scene.
06:06So late into Friday night, members of the FBI SWAT, along with special agents,
06:12went through room by room clearing the facilities on the CDC campus
06:17to make sure no one was struck, there was no victims on that campus
06:20with that many rounds being fired onto the campus.
06:24I'm glad to say that everyone was safely evacuated
06:27to include all the children in the daycare,
06:30and they were reunified with their families.
06:33We then worked with the Atlanta Police Department evidence technicians,
06:36the FBI's evidence response team,
06:39to document the shots into the facility
06:43and continue to assist the investigation.
06:45I've made every resource available within the FBI
06:48to Director Hosey, the GBI, and our partners
06:51to assist this investigation.
06:52We'll continue to do so.
06:59As I mentioned earlier, we know that we have recovered video evidence,
07:03continue to examine that.
07:04We encourage anybody.
07:06We know that there's a lot of cell phones out there,
07:09that if there's video evidence that would be pertinent to this investigation,
07:12or if they have information that they can provide to the investigation,
07:16to please contact us.
07:18As you know, that can be done through our tip line at 1-800-597-TIPS
07:23or 1-800-597-8477.
07:27They can also utilize our See Something, Send Something app
07:31that is available on Android and iPhones.
07:35You can attach videos to those entries,
07:40and it can be anonymous if they so choose.
07:43There's a choice there for that.
07:44And also, it can be submitted online through our website.
07:49We can provide that information if you need it.
07:53So at this time, we will open up briefly for some questions.
07:57Hey there, Skyler Henry with CBS News.
08:01One of the things that we've heard from health care workers
08:04over the last several days is that they've been concerned about threats
08:08based off of misinformation and disinformation tied to vaccines.
08:13Is there an assessment, either from you or from a special agent in charge,
08:17about the threat level as it relates to health care workers?
08:21Has there been an uptick in the days since or prior to?
08:23The threat to that nature is always something we take very seriously when we look at.
08:32We've not seen an uptick, although any rhetoric that suggests or leads to violence
08:40is something we take very seriously.
08:42So that's something we're very sensitive to.
08:44We're going to respond to quickly should we see it in the future.
08:47But although we're tracking it, we're sensitive to it,
08:50we have not seen that uptick.
08:51Director, you talked a little bit about the investigation so far.
08:56I noticed one, we haven't seen a good picture of the suspect itself.
09:00Would you guys be releasing one?
09:01And then because of so many rounds, can you discuss what kind of weapons were used?
09:06I know there were probably two rifles and a shotgun and some handguns,
09:09but that's a lot of rounds.
09:11Can you talk about how he was able to put those down in that building if you don't mind?
09:15So first question with the picture.
09:19We will be sending that picture out later this afternoon.
09:24What we do encourage is that the public remembers the face of the officer this next week, especially.
09:32I'm not here to publicize the individual, but we do see the importance of that photograph being put out.
09:39It will not be on our website, but we will provide it to you here today.
09:44Secondly, on the five firearms that were recovered, it was a mixture, I believe, of, I know, rifles, shotgun,
09:52and maybe a handgun.
09:54I'm not completely sure on that.
09:56But the majority, I believe, of the shell casings recovered were from a long gun rifle.
10:04Those weapons registered to him or somebody else?
10:06Do you know when they were purchased and how and where?
10:09Don't know when they were purchased.
10:11Thanks to great work and quick work by ATF on Friday and Saturday and over the weekend,
10:17it was determined that the weapons belonged to the father.
10:20And as we mentioned, he was interviewed over the weekend, but they did belong to the father.
10:31With 200 rounds, I think you said 200 rounds impacting six CDC buildings,
10:37we know that there was the daycare there.
10:39Can you just give us a sense of the proximity of those rounds to people who were there
10:44and what level of it?
10:45I'm not sure of the location.
10:46How serious this could have been?
10:48I'm not sure of the locations of the rounds that were impacted there.
10:54And it was, I believe I mentioned, it was close to 200 rounds that impacted six different buildings.
11:00And the exact locations of where the rounds struck, I'm not familiar with.
11:04Can you give us more specifics about the evidence you said you found regarding
11:08why it's discontent with the vaccine, like what that looked like or what we know?
11:12It was, we're basing that off some of the documentation that we recovered.
11:18I would describe it as more of a public awareness.
11:22There was no direct threat as I'll refer to it within it, but it was his public,
11:28making the public aware in his words of his discontent with the vaccines itself.
11:35You suggested that the suspect was on law enforcement's radar in the weeks prior to the shooting.
11:41Was that mainly about his own welfare and his suicidal ideations,
11:46or was there any indication that he might carry out some sort of violence?
11:50Well, we're aware that there were law enforcement contacts made with him prior to it.
11:55We know within weeks prior to it.
11:58Currently, this time, our investigators are getting with the law enforcement that made those contacts
12:04and finding out what the details of that were.
12:07We know that according to a law enforcement source, that during the warrant,
12:11you guys may have found some medication that he was on.
12:13Can we talk about maybe his health makeup just a little bit at this point?
12:17Can you have any indications about what he's suffering from any mental health issues
12:21that he had medication for?
12:23Can we talk about that at all?
12:24I can't speak to that at this time.
12:26When you said there was some public awareness in the documentation that you found,
12:29are you talking about social media posts, or what do you mean by that?
12:31No, just basically the overall content of one of the documents
12:34was more of wanting to make the public aware of his distrust of the vaccines.
12:41It was one of the 911 calls where it sounded like it came from his father
12:45that he had spoken to a specific officer before.
12:48Was that with the CDC or Emory?
12:49Did they have this man's name on their radar before?
12:54Not to my knowledge.
12:55I have not heard the 911 call.
12:58But I'm sure we will at some point and dig into that and see where it is pertinent to the investigation.
13:04But I apologize.
13:05Is there protocol in place when someone has suicidal ideations to restrict them from being able to access weapons?
13:13So how was he able to access them?
13:15So all indications in our investigation was that they were secured
13:20and that he forced his way into the safe that contained the weapons.
13:26A lot of CDC employees are worried about returning back to the building.
13:31They're working from home mostly this week.
13:33But are there any plans to work with them to up security in the area?
13:37Or has there been a conversation about what that looks like?
13:39Well, Paul may have more to add to that.
13:44But I know at our level we are in communication with CDC security,
13:48providing them any information that they need concerning now and in the present for security purposes.
13:55And we'll continue to do that with them.
13:57Anything to add to that?
13:58And we'll work with them on doing a threat assessment to their facility.
14:04And certainly if we become aware of any threats to their personnel or their campus,
14:10we'd make them aware of that and take steps to protect them.
14:13I know when some couple of CDC employees asked maybe would there be physical changes to the outside of the building.
14:19I don't know if you even have that in your purview,
14:22but could you talk about whether or not there would be any physical changes to maybe the guard shack
14:26for the ability to have patients in the street like this one does?
14:29I wouldn't be in a position to answer that for the CDC.
14:33They're going through an assessment process now, so that's really a decision.
14:37Based on the results of that assessment, if they come to the conclusion that's necessary,
14:41then they take those steps.
14:43Can we talk about his arrival to the guard shack and what, if anything, was said
14:47and how they turned him away?
14:50I'm not familiar with the exact path taken that day.
14:54The majority of the crime scene that we examined was specifically in the intersection
15:01around the CVS pharmacy.
15:04What about Officer Rose's arrival on scene?
15:06Did he have the chance to even get out of the car, or was he in person as soon as he arrived?
15:11I'm not going to go into the details of that at this time.
15:13It's enough to know that Officer Rose was doing his job and encountered gunfire,
15:22and unfortunately, he passed as a result of that.
15:25I apologize.
15:26When you said that there were documents, or he said he wanted to make a public opinion
15:30about the vaccine, what do you mean by documents?
15:34Is there a letter or a memo, or is it with social media?
15:37It was a, it was a, a, a, a, a writing.
15:40Okay.
15:41Yeah.
15:42If the weapons were secure in a safe, did he have a key to the safe?
15:47No.
15:47Did he break in?
15:48How did he get it?
15:49He broke into it.
15:51Can you clarify where he was shooting the suspected company in terms of the CVS?
15:56How high up?
15:57Again, the majority of the crime scene that we examined was in that intersection
16:03close to the corner by CVS.
16:06One more question.
16:07Was he firing anywhere else besides the CVS building?
16:10From their knowledge, was he firing at anywhere else in the area inside the CVS?
16:16Besides, I'm sorry.
16:17Was he firing anywhere else besides exactly at the CVS building?
16:21Was it other shots inside the CVS?
16:23Can you explain that?
16:23All I can tell you there is the majority of the rounds in that direction we know struck
16:29the buildings, and past that, I'm not sure.
16:33Thank you for being here today.
16:35This concludes our news conference.
Be the first to comment