Suspect and officer are dead after shooting outside CDC in Atlanta

A person opened fire late Friday outside the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, killing one police officer and striking the exterior of buildings on the CDC campus, authorities said.

The suspect was found fatally shot, but there were "no civilian casualties," officials said.

Officials reported an active shooter just before 5 pm at a CVS store on Clifton Road, which is situated directly across from the main entrance to the CDC headquarters. Officers found the suspect on the second floor of the CVS, but it was unclear if the person had been struck in an exchange of gunfire with the police or the gunshot was self-inflicted, Chief Darin Schierbaum of the Atlanta Police Department said at a news conference Friday evening.

The officer who was killed was from the DeKalb County Police Department, a spokesperson for the agency said.

The CVS store is in a complex with restaurants and apartments in an area of northeast Atlanta that is home to Emory University and Emory University Hospital. The university issued an alert to its students and faculty: "RUN, HIDE, FIGHT. Avoid the area. Shelter in place." The order to shelter was lifted after roughly an hour.

In a statement, the Atlanta Police Department said there was "no ongoing threat" to the CDC complex, Emory campus or the surrounding neighborhood.

Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia praised police officers for responding swiftly and effectively. In a statement Friday, he referred to another shooting in Georgia, on Wednesday, where officials said an Army sergeant opened fire on his own unit at a military base in Hinesville, wounding five soldiers.

"Twice this week, deranged criminals have targeted innocent Georgians," Kemp, a Republican, said in the statement. "Each time, brave first responders rushed toward the danger to subdue the shooter and save lives, reminding us of just how crucial they are."

A stretch of Clifton Road was blocked off by local law enforcement officials who had swarmed the area Friday evening.

Hannah Weisman, a first-year medical student at Emory, was walking home to her apartment less than a block from the CVS shortly before 5 p.m. when she heard the sound of gunshots coming from down the street. Weisman, 25, said she dove into a nearby bush to hide with another person.

After hearing several rounds of gunshots, she ducked and ran away from the CVS and toward a parking structure. Her apartment is on the ground floor, so she decided to shelter in her car.

"I was just thinking, 'I can't believe this is happening,'" she said in an interview from her car, where she had been hiding since about 5 p.m.

When Anurag Mehta, a cardiologist at Emory, and his wife, Ananya Mehta, a research administrator, received an active shooter alert from the university, they rushed to check on their 3-year-old son, who attends the Clifton School, a child care program on the CDC campus.

Anurag Mehta couldn't reach the school directly but was able to get ahold of a family friend who works there. They confirmed the school was on lockdown and that all the students were safe.