DECATUR, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A memorial for fallen DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose grew larger on Tuesday, as mourners flocked to the site at the CDC where he was killed.

Rose was shot Friday responding to an active shooting outside CDC headquarters in Decatur. Officials on Tuesday confirmed that the fatal shots had come from the firearm of suspected gunman Patrick White.

“It was a senseless life lost,” said Dawn, who stood holding a sign outside the CDC building Tuesday and didn’t want her last name used. “He was just here doing his job, attempting to protect people from this very thing. His effort mattered and it saved lives and he will not be forgotten and we should all be very grateful.”

Later on, Lisa Kent stopped by to Sharpie a message onto a poster board bearing Rose’s face, nearly entirely covered in well wishes.

“For someone to sacrifice their life the way they did, the least I could do is come by,” said Kent, who said she has family in law enforcement. “Right now, I think people need compassion. We need good people. The world needs good people. And the more I look at the people who have been coming by here, the more hope it gives me that we have some.”

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The 30-year-old White, police said, stole five guns from his father’s gun safe and drove to the CDC. After being denied entrance into the complex, White fired roughly 500 shots in a matter of minutes. Officials with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and the FBI said around 200 of those shots hit buildings inside the CDC complex.

No one inside was hurt, and most of the CDC staff was working remote last week. GBI and FBI leaders said they had been tracking the potential for increased threats to CDC workers and buildings.

“I know people who work there who get death threats in their emails every single day,” said Meg Clark, who came to the CDC on Tuesday to show support for workers. “Something like this that takes it into the real world is terrifying for them, it’ terrifying for me, it’s terrifying for everybody who works in this area.”

While White had no criminal history, he was on the radar of local police after several mental health calls to his home recently.

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“The shooter had recently verbalized thoughts of suicide, which even led to law enforcement being contacted several weeks prior to the incident,” said Chris Hosey, GBI director.

White eventually died from what police said was a self-inflicted gunshot. During their investigation, police discovered a document tying White’s actions to his discontent with the COVID-19 vaccine.

“There was no direct threat, as I would refer to, within it,” said Hosey. “But it was more making the public aware, in his words, of his discontent with the vaccine.”

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