Police Response At Emory Point Sparks Brief Lockdown

On the afternoon of January 16, 2026, the usually tranquil area surrounding Emory University’s Atlanta campus and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was rattled by a sudden police emergency. The incident, which unfolded at Emory Point—a mixed-use development directly across from the CDC—brought a surge of law enforcement activity, emergency alerts, and anxious memories of a deadly shooting that had shaken the same neighborhood just five months prior.

It all began around 1:05 p.m., when Emory University sent an emergency text message to its community: “There is a police emergency at Emory Point near the CDC campus.” The message was terse but urgent, instructing students, faculty, and staff to steer clear of the area. According to The Emory Wheel, multiple Atlanta Police Department patrol cars rushed to the scene, and two helicopters circled overhead, their presence impossible to ignore for anyone nearby.

As the minutes ticked by, the campus and surrounding businesses responded with caution. A manager at the Orange Theory gym told 11Alive that they locked their doors as soon as they spotted the first police cars arriving just after 1 p.m. “They appeared interested in an area on the roof,” the manager recounted. Nearby, employees at the TGM Bread Company watched officers pacing the street and climbing onto rooftops, clearly searching for something—or someone—unusual.

Emory’s alert system, which had become a lifeline during the traumatic events of August 2025, was again at the center of communication. At 1:40 p.m., the university reiterated its warning, asking everyone to avoid Emory Point near the CDC. The gravity of the situation was underscored by the visible police presence and the sight of drones flying above the campus, as reported by 11Alive’s Chase Houle. Yet, for all the tension on the ground, traffic on Clifton Road and in the adjacent shopping district continued to flow, a strange juxtaposition of normalcy and emergency.

For many, the afternoon’s events dredged up memories of the harrowing incident on August 8, 2025. On that day, an active shooter—identified as 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White—opened fire in the Emory Point area, targeting the CDC buildings across the street. According to Atlanta News First, White fired hundreds of rounds, shattering more than 150 windows and sending employees and parents at a nearby daycare into lockdown. DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose, who responded to the call, was shot and killed near a CVS drug store. The shooter ultimately died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The incident left the community shaken and on edge, with the memory of gun violence lingering long after the police tape was cleared away.

So when the emergency alerts sounded again on January 16, nerves were understandably raw. CBS News Atlanta reported seeing Emory officers armed with long guns patrolling the mixed-use development. The Clifton School, located at the intersection of Clifton and CDC Parkway, went into lockdown. “Thank you for calling, we are currently on lockdown,” a staff member told a reporter who phoned in. The shadow of the previous summer’s tragedy hung heavy over every action.

Despite the intense response, details about the nature of the emergency remained scarce throughout the afternoon. According to Atlanta News First, the university did not disclose what had prompted the alert, and DeKalb County officials confirmed to Fox 5 Atlanta that there was no active shooter in the area. That confirmation came at 1:37 p.m., offering a measure of relief, but not yet an all-clear. The police continued their investigation, their focus apparently on the roof of one of the residential buildings at Emory Point. SKYFOX’s aerial footage captured officers moving purposefully on the rooftops, a sight that only fueled speculation and concern among residents and students.

At 2:04 p.m., Emory University sent out another message: the emergency was still ongoing. The uncertainty persisted, and officials maintained their request for the public to avoid the area. It wasn’t until 2:30 p.m. that the first signs of resolution appeared. According to Atlanta News First and The Emory Wheel, the university posted an update on its website and sent a text message at 2:39 p.m., announcing that the emergency situation was over and the all-clear had been given. The lockdowns were lifted, and life—tentatively—began to return to normal.

What, then, had caused the flurry of emergency activity? As of Friday evening, university officials and law enforcement had not provided a public explanation. Channel 2 Action News and Atlanta News First both noted that the cause of the emergency response remained undisclosed. 11Alive reported that the initial concern had been a suspicious person spotted on a roof at Emory Point, but that this report ultimately proved unfounded. Officers who had scoured the area, including the rooftops, left shortly after determining there was no immediate threat.

For those in the area, the lack of concrete information was both frustrating and oddly reassuring. On the one hand, the absence of an active shooter or other clear danger meant that the community had been spared another tragedy. On the other, the memory of last August’s violence was still fresh, and the swift, sweeping response from law enforcement was a reminder of just how quickly things could escalate. As one observer put it, the police activity “was not at the level seen in August,” but the echoes of that day were impossible to ignore.

In the aftermath, local businesses and campus facilities resumed their routines. The Orange Theory gym unlocked its doors, traffic continued on Clifton Road, and the shopping district at Emory Point welcomed back cautious customers. The university, for its part, promised to update the community as more information became available. For now, the incident served as both a test of the campus’s emergency response systems and a somber reminder of the importance of vigilance in a world where the shadow of violence can fall at any time.

As the sun set over Atlanta, the events of January 16, 2026, had left the community with more questions than answers. But in the quiet that followed, there was also a sense of relief—a hope that, at least for now, the worst had been avoided, and that the scars of last summer’s tragedy would not be reopened.