Dr. Elizabeth Soda felt helpless as she frantically messaged her co-workers Friday once a gunman had opened fire on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The 40-year-old, who works at the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, had just left her CDC office 30 minutes before the shooting. Now her colleagues were stuck and barricaded inside.

“There were lots of messages,” she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “You just never think it’s gonna happen to you until it does.”

While her co-workers ultimately made it home safely, she said fear still lingers two days after the shooting, which left responding DeKalb County police officer David Rose dead. Bullets struck the windows of her office on building 16, just feet from where she normally works. At least

See Full Page