Maryland Newspaper Shooting Leaves Five Dead, Several Others ‘Gravely Injured’ At ‘Capital Gazette’
At least five people are dead, and several others are “gravely injured,” after a gunman opened fired at Maryland’s Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis.
At 2:45 p.m. Eastern Time, reporter Phil Davis, who works at the newspaper, began live-tweeting his own workplace shooting.
Gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees. Can't say much more and don't want to declare anyone dead, but it's bad.
— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) June 28, 2018
At 3:15 p.m. Eastern Time, Anne Arundel County Police confirmed that they were responding to a shooting at the newspaper’s location, according to the Baltimore Sun. Moments later, employees of the building were hurrying out of their workplace with their hands up. Authorities say that about 170 people were in the building at the time.
Davis, who hid under his desk during the shooting, said it was like a “war zone” inside the building.
“There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk and then hear the gunman reload.”
The mass shooting today in Annapolis is at least the 186th mass shooting in America since January 2009.
Read that again.
And again. https://t.co/xsGWpWHAEw
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) June 28, 2018
Before police arrived, the shooter stopped shooting, according to Davis.
“I don’t know why. I don’t know why he stopped.”
Police were able to take the gunman into custody without exchanging fire with him. He was inside the building when he was arrested, according to NBC News.
According to police, a “long gun” was used in the incident, but they are not elaborating. Further, a device that may or may not have been an explosive was found at the scene. Police say it’s been “taken care of,” but did not elaborate, nor did they confirm or deny if the device was indeed an explosive.
Several people dead in shooting at newspaper building in US city of Annapolis in Maryland, officials confirm https://t.co/yVfjyyjOo6
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) June 28, 2018
Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting. He later sent out a tweet that his “thoughts and prayers” are with the victims of the shooting.
Prior to departing Wisconsin, I was briefed on the shooting at Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Thank you to all of the First Responders who are currently on the scene.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2018
Outside of Maryland, officials at other major newspapers, such as the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, quickly put their buildings on lockdown.
As of this writing, police have not revealed any information about the suspect, except to say that he is a white male who is currently being questioned. Police have revealed no motive.
The shooting follows reports that Milo Yiannopoulos, a former Breitbart reporter, appeared to incite violence against journalists. As USA Today reports, Yiannopoulos sent a text message to a New York Observer reporter that said he “can’t wait for vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight.” He later said that it was intended as a joke.
Milo Yiannopoulos said reporters should be ‘gunned down on sight’ shortly before Annapolis newsroom shooting https://t.co/1M1a0YGAzP
— Raw Story (@RawStory) June 28, 2018
However, at this point, it bears noting that there is no evidence to suggest that the shooter acted on Yiannopoulos’ words.
This is a developing story. More information on the Maryland newspaper shooting will be provided as it becomes available.
