‘IRONY IS DEVASTATING’

CDC Lays Off Violence Prevention Staff Two Weeks After Deadly Shooting at Headquarters

One hundred employees from the Division of Violence Prevention are receiving pink slips.

Two weeks after a gunman sprayed more than 100 bullets at the CDC’s headquarters, killing one, the agency is cutting staff who focus on preventing violence. The layoffs at the Division of Violence Prevention, which affect 100 staffers, are part of a broader push initiated on April 1 to purge the public health agency of thousands of employees. The violence prevention group funds research on “community violence, domestic violence, sexual violence, child abuse and neglect,” sharing findings with states and communities to bolster public safety. A week after the shooting, 50 former employees of the division wrote in a blog post that “the irony is devastating.” “The very experts trained to understand, interrupt and prevent this kind of violence were among those whose jobs were eliminated,” they wrote. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was slow to respond to the Aug. 8 shooting, which killed DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose. The gunman believed that he had been harmed by the COVID vaccine, which RFK Jr. has criticized. The Daily Beast has contacted HHS for comment.