Gunman shoots into Maryland newsroom, kills at least five

[Shahzaz ud din]

Gunman shoots into Maryland newsroom, kills at least five
By Reuters
Published: June 29, 2018
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PHOTO REUTERS

ANNAPOLIS: A gunman fired through a glass door at a newspaper in the Maryland capital of Annapolis and sprayed the newsroom with gunfire on Thursday, killing at least five people and injuring several others, authorities said.

The suspect has been apprehended and no motive is known for the attack at the Capital Gazette newspaper, local political leaders said.

Law enforcement in Baltimore and New York City deployed protective forces to major media outlets as a precaution, authorities said.

“The shooter is in custody and is being interrogated at this time,” Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh told a news conference.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said at the news conference: “It’s a tragic situation. We don’t have all the information yet, and we can’t give all the information yet, but we have had several fatalities.”

For now, the Annapolis shooting is being treated as a local incident and not one that involves terrorism, a law enforcement official said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is on the scene assisting local authorities, the official said.

Phil Davis, who identified himself as a courts and crime reporter at the Capital Gazette, tweeted that multiple people had been shot.

Davis said a single shooter “shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead.” He later said he was safe and being interviewed by police.
“There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk and then hear the gunman reload,” he tweeted.

President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting, White House spokesperson Lindsay Walters said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with all that are affected,” she said. Trump was aboard Air Force One, returning to Washington from an event in Wisconsin.

One law enforcement source told CBS News the suspect is a male in his 20s who had no identification on him. Two law enforcement sources told CBS News the suspect used a shotgun.

Police also went to the offices of the Baltimore Sun as a precaution, that paper reported.

The New York Police Department said it was beefing up security at New York-based news organizations as a precaution.

“We’re deploying units from our Critical Response Command to news outlets throughout New York City,” said Officer Andrew Lava, an NYPD spokesperson.

“There is no active threat at this time,” he said.

Agents from the Baltimore office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were responding to the incident, the bureau tweeted.

Police are checking the building in Annapolis for explosives and whether more than one suspect was involved, Anne Arundel County police spokesperson, Lieutenant Ryan Frashure, told reporters.

Live video images showed people leaving the building, walking through a parking lot with their hands in the air. Scores of police vehicles were on the scene.


Read more: Annapolis , Capital Gazette , Latest

 

[waz]

Workplace disputes can take a deadly turn in the US as seen here, there's been a fair few in past as well.
RIP to the people who died.

 

[UKBengali]

Workplace disputes can take a deadly turn in the US as seen here, there's been a fair few in past as well.
RIP to the people who died.

Same would happen in UK if people had free access to guns.

 

[waz]

Same would happen in UK if people had free access to guns.

Not really, for example you can use knifes but we haven't seen any such attack in the workplace.

 

[Dalit]

Same would happen in UK if people had free access to guns.

I think this has more to do with people than guns or knives. Americans are trigger happy.

 

[khail007]

US should boldly accept that terrorism is in their blood and in rank and file. Exactly it is not an issue of arms.
It is an issue of terrorism from within.

 

[Safada]

US should boldly accept that terrorism is in their blood and in rank and file. Exactly it is not an issue of arms.
It is an issue of terrorism from within.

Stupid white Americans blame white people gun violence on mental health issues and not terrorism unfortunately.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Civil war is a problem, US has to admit it is Civil war or Civil Disturbance
Attack on news channels is normally done in Civil war

 

[Dalit]

Guess what.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1012437964373123072

The usual thoughts and prayers after every shooting. These Americans have become accustomed to shootings.

 

[khanz]

I suggest Pakistan put a travel warning against going there maybe even a ban on white americans entering Pakistan till we figure out what the hell is going over there- America is under threat right now from white supremacists and mass shooters .
Pakistan will not tolerate save havens in america for mass shooters we must make it clear to the trump regime they must do more to root out this menace.There is a need to establish joint permanent military bases on american soil with the friendly nations of Iran,Russia and China on American soil to protect the American people against gun violence .

 

[haidian]

 

[Solomon2]

Five dead in 'targeted attack' at Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, police say; Laurel man charged with murder


Anne Arundel County police lieutenant Ryan Frashure on the Annapolis area shooting suspect, "he's in custody." (Kevin Richardson / Baltimore Sun video)



Kevin Rector and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs The Baltimore Sun

June 29th, 5:35am

A gunman blasted his way into the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis with a shotgun Thursday afternoon, killing five people, authorities said.

Journalists dived under their desks and pleaded for help on social media. One reporter described the scene as a “war zone.” A photographer said he jumped over a dead colleague and fled for his life.

The victims were identified as Rob Hiaasen, 59, a former feature writer for The Baltimore Sun who joined the Capital Gazette in 2010 as an assistant editor and columnist; Wendi Winters, 65, a community correspondent who headed special publications; Gerald Fischman, 61, the editorial page editor; John McNamara, 56, a staff writer who had covered high school, college and professional sports for decades; and Rebecca Smith, 34, a sales assistant hired in November.

Two others were injured in the attack that began about 2:40 p.m. at the Capital Gazette offices at 888 Bestgate Road in Annapolis.

Jarrod W. Ramos, a 38-year-old Laurel man with a long-standing grudge against the paper.

Ramos was charged with five counts of first-degree murder, according to online court records. He did not have an attorney listed; a bail review hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Friday in Annapolis.

“This was a targeted attack on the Capital Gazette,” said Anne Arundel County Deputy Police Chief William Krampf. “This person was prepared today to come in. He was prepared to shoot people.”

Local, state and federal law enforcement officials cordoned off the Laurel apartment complex listed as the address for Ramos Thursday evening.
Davis later told The Sun said it “was like a war zone” — a scene that would be “hard to describe for a while.”

“I’m a police reporter. I write about this stuff — not necessarily to this extent, but shootings and death — all the time,” he said. “But as much as I’m going to try to articulate how traumatizing it is to be hiding under your desk, you don’t know until you’re there and you feel helpless.”

Davis said he and others were hiding under their desks when the shooter stopped firing. Then police arrived and surrounded the shooter.

Photographer Paul Gillespie had finished editing photos from one assignment and was preparing for the next when he heard shots behind him and the newsroom’s glass doors shatter.

He heard another shot, he said, dived under a co-worker’s desk “and curled up as small as I could.”

“I dove under that desk as fast as I could, and by the grace of God, he didn’t look over there,” he said. “I was curled up, trying not to breathe, trying not to make a sound, and he shot people all around me.”
“If they were not there as quickly as they were, it could have been a lot worse," Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley said.

Officials at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore confirmed that the hospital was treating at least one victim. County Executive Steve Schuh said others were being treated at Anne Arundel Medical Center.

Loren Farquhar, a medical center spokeswoman, said the hospital received two patients, both with minor injuries not from gunfire.

The injured employees were identified as Rachael Pacella, a reporter who covers education and the Naval Academy, and Janel Cooley, a sales representative who covers downtown Annapolis. Both were treated and released.

A spokeswoman for the Baltimore Sun Media Group said the company was “deeply saddened” by the shooting.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with our colleagues and their families,” spokeswoman Renee Mutchnik said. “Our immediate focus is on providing support and resources for all our employees and cooperating with the authorities as this situation is still under investigation.”
President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that he had been briefed on the shooting.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” he wrote. “Thank you to all of the First Responders who are currently on the scene.”

Josh McKerrow, a Capital Gazette photographer for 14 years, started his day Thursday covering Induction Day at the Naval Academy at sunrise. He was driving home to celebrate his daughter’s birthday when Capital editor Rick Hutzell called.

“He said he’d heard there had been a shooting, and he couldn't get in touch with anyone in the newsroom,” McKerrow said.

Then he heard sirens.

“My heart sank,” McKerrow said. “I knew.”

Police in SWAT gear carrying assault rifles cordoned off the area around the newsroom and closed Bestgate Road. Outside the police tape, McKerrow and reporter Chase Cook called and texted friends and co-workers in search of answers.

Jimmy DeButts, an editor, wrote on Twitter that he was “devastated and heartbroken.”

He praised his colleagues’ work.

“There are no 40-hour weeks, no big paydays — just a passion for telling stories from our community,” DeButts wrote. “We keep doing more with less. We find ways to cover high school sports, breaking news, tax hikes, school budgets & local entertainment. We are there in times of tragedy. We do our best to share the stories of people, those who make our community better. Please understand, we do all this to serve our community.”

Gov. Larry Hogan wrote on Twitter that he was “absolutely devastated to learn of this tragedy in Annapolis.”

House Speaker Michael E. Busch, who has represented Annapolis in the House of Delegates since 1987, called the Capital Gazette “the voice of the community.”

“This is a shocker,” Busch said. “Over the years, a lot of these people become friends. They do their job, you do your job, and you respect them for it. A lot of good writers have come out of there.”

The Capital Gazette is one of 30 tenants in the building. Five others share the first floor with The Capital. They include accountants, lawyers, financial and medical offices. The newspaper has been in the building since 2015, according to CoStar, a real estate information company. They have 5,000 square feet of offices.

Aaron Smith and Randall Fisher of the Fisher Law Office were on the fourth floor at the time of the shooting, but they didn't hear or see anything. They learned of the assault when a colleague texted Smith.

They flipped a desk over in front of the door to the office and stayed there until SWAT officers arrived. They then walked out of the building with their hands on their heads, like everyone else in the building, Fisher said.

Bethany Clasing, who works on the second floor, said she heard a single gunshot. Then police yelled: “Get down! Get down! Don't move!”

Rayne Foster of Frost and Associates LLC said a plainclothes officer entered her fourth-floor office suite and told the receptionist to lock the doors because there was an active shooter. She quickly gathered people together.

Some employees removed high heels to prepare to flee the building. Others hid. One pulled two handguns out of his desk drawer for self-defense.

More police arrived, and they all began filing out of the office. Foster said she and her employees tried to hold hands to comfort each other, but were told by police to keep their hands in the air.

“You see it on the news,” Foster said, “and you think, ‘These poor people.’ You wonder how they feel.

“Now I know.”

Baltimore Sun reporters Scott Dance, Doug Donovan, Tim Prudente, Justin Fenton, Erin Cox, Jessica Anderson and Meredith Cohn and the Associated Press contributed to this article.

krector@baltsun.com

twitter.com/rectorsun

 

[Safada]

If the cause of the shooting was due to a grudge against the paper, that means there's political implications, therefore this has to be labelled as a terrorist act according to the "so called" text book definition of Terrorism.