A suspect who opened fire near the headquarters of America's public health agency blamed an apparent illness on the Covid vaccine, according to a report. The gunman, dressed in black and armed with a long rifle, began firing at the the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) building in Atlanta soon after 4.30pm ET (9.30 BST), shooting out windows and prompting a lockdown of the surrounding area. A DeKalb county police officer who responded to the shooting was critically injured and later died in hospital, police said. About two hours after the shooting began, the Atlanta police department said the gunman had died. The authorities said it was unclear whether he killed himself or was shot by police returning fire.