Social media posts falsely claimed a Canadian teen, Silas Kruger, was responsible for a shooting at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., on Friday that left a police officer and the suspect dead. In fact, authorities said 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White is the suspected shooter. Kruger's father, a Saskatchewan-based contractor and social media influencer, said his son lives in Canada and is the victim of an online troll group.
THE CLAIM
The man who attacked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., on Friday died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after killing DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose, authorities said.
As the shooting unfolded Friday, some social media posts misidentified the suspect as Silas Kruger.
The shooting happened near the campus of Emory University, and several posts to the X platform, formerly Twitter, claimed Kruger was the gunman and died at the scene. A TikTok about the shooting with more than 4.5 million plays and 500,000 likes named Kruger in its hashtag.
THE FACTS
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) identified Patrick Joseph White, 30, as the shooter. The agency provided The Canadian Press with an undated handout of White's driver's licence photo.
Police said White fired more than 180 shots at the CDC headquarters and wanted to send a message against the COVID-19 vaccine.
In a press release Tuesday, the GBI said White verbalized thoughts of suicide and interacted with law enforcement shortly before the shooting, but had no criminal history.
Kruger's father is Murray Kruger, a Saskatchewan-based contractor and social media influencer with 2.9 million followers on Instagram. Kruger's social media posts indicate his son graduated from high school in June. The Canadian Press reached out to the family and will update this fact check if it receives a response.
In a series of X posts after the shooting, Kruger said his son was the target of online trolls.
Responding to a now-deleted post, Kruger wrote, "This is our son and we live in Canada. We have been victims of a Discord troll group for 3 years and this is their doing," adding the group made fake accounts of his son and father.
An X account called "The Exposure" posted a video of the elder Kruger addressing claims about his son's supposed involvement in the shooting.
He said the family is in contact with cybercrime units in the United States and Canada, including the RCMP's National Cybercrime Coordination Centre.
With files from The Associated Press.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2025.
Marissa Birnie, The Canadian Press
