5 killed in ‘targeted attack’ on Capital Gazette newspaper, police say

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A gunman opened fire in the newsroom of the Capital Gazette here on Thursday, killing five people in what police are calling a "targeted attack" on the newspaper.

Police reporter Phil Davis, who took cover under a desk at the height of the melee, described the scene to The Baltimore Sun as "like a war zone."

"This person was prepared to shoot people. His intent was to cause harm," William Krampf, acting police chief Anne Arundel County, said at a news conference.

CNN and NBC News identified the shooter as Jarrod Ramos.

Police described the gunman as an adult white male in his late 30s armed with a shotgun. Authorities were searching his home in Maryland Thursday evening. Officials think the gunman acted alone, but they had not established a motive for the attack.

Krampf acknowledged threats on social media that "indicated violence" as recent as today had been made to the newspaper, but it was not clear whether they came from the suspect.

Anne Arundel police spokesman Lt. Ryan Frashure said officers arrived on the scene within 60 seconds of initial reports.

County Executive Steve Schuh said the suspect had put his weapon down and was hiding in the building under a desk when police found him. He described the suspect as "not being particularly forthcoming."

Some media reported the suspect, who has not been officially named, was identified through facial recognition software and that he mutilated his fingers to obscure his identification.

Krampf said police had "no information about facial recognition or his fingerprints" and added that it was an ongoing investigation. Frashure denied reports the suspect altered his fingerprints. "We spoke with our detectives, they had no idea where that information came from. It's not true."

Krampf added that the gunman used canisters of smoke grenades when he entered the building. About 170 people were evacuated from the site. Two people suffered superficial wounds, police said.

Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley was in a meeting when a receptionist came in and informed him about the shooting, he told USA TODAY. More than 100 emergency responders rushed to the scene in what he called "a very collective effort."

"This thing for us is very personal because the journalists who work there, a lot of them are friends of ours. It's a thankless job and they don’t make a lot of money. It's not like the publication is some right-wing or left-wing thing. It's a publication that reports good local news from stories on local sports teams to cats stuck up a tree," Buckley said. "I hope this is not an attack on journalism."

Buckley also praised the professionalism of the police. "They had to step over bodies to find the shooter," he added.

The Capital Gazette's Davis described the horror in a series of tweets, saying that a gunman "shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees."

"There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload," Davis tweeted.

The Sun, which owns the newspaper, subsequently interviewed Davis who described the scene.

"I'm a police reporter. I write about this stuff — not necessarily to this extent, but shootings and death — all the time," Davis told The Sun. "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."

The newspaper is in the middle of a busy stretch of Annapolis, where the Annapolis Plaza, the Westgate Annapolis mall and the Anne Arundel Medical Center meet.

Mary Feeley called it a "Sept. 11 feeling" when a person from a nearby store came into her bridal boutique and told her to lock her doors.

Two doors down from the bridal store, Home Goods employees hardly noticed but were taken by the fatal attack just yards away.

“Crazy usually escapes Annapolis,” said Dorothy Harbold Klipper, a Home Goods employee and a Capital Gazette subscriber since the 1960s.

Journalists across the country rushed to show their support, launching fundraisers and offering encouragement, and applauding when Capital Gazette reporters insisted on staying on the job despite the tragedy.

Chase Cook, a Capital Gazette reporter who wasn't in the building when the shooting occurred, tweeted "I can tell you this. We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow."

The shooting also sent newsrooms around the country on high alert over security concerns. New York City police dispatched units to media outlets across the city to guard against potential copy-cat or coordinated attacks. New York Police Department spokesman Peter Donald said Thursday dozens of locations were getting extra cover.

Police in Chicago, Los Angeles and Nashville, Tennessee also took additional security precautions.

Tom Marquardt, the former executive editor of Tthe Capital, posted on Facebook that the shooting is "impossible to grasp."

"I can't even fathom with any degree of understanding what happened at my old newspaper today," Marquardt said. "The Capital, like all newspapers, angered people every day in its pursuit of the news. In my day, people protested by writing letters to the editor; today it's through the barrel of a gun."

He said occasional threats on newspapers are inevitable. But the deadly consequences of Thursday's attack bring a new dimension to such risks.

"Sure, I had death threats and the paper had bomb threats," Marquardt said. "But we shrugged them off as part of the business we were in. We prided ourselves in being an open newsroom, available to anyone to visit. What happened today could have happened in any newsroom. Now, I'm getting calls from reporters asking for background for obits of people who I hired and worked beside."

Gov. Larry Hogan tweeted condolences on Twitter.

"Absolutely devastated to learn of this tragedy in Annapolis," he said. "I am in contact with County Executive Steve Schuh, and @MDSP is on the scene assisting @AACOPD. Please, heed all warnings and stay away from the area. Praying for those at the scene and for our community."

President Donald Trump said in a tweet that his "thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families."

Buckley, who took office just six months ago, told USA TODAY this is the last thing he imagined he would have to confront as the mayor of a small town.

"I can't imagine what the families are going through, he said. "We feel for them. We grieve for them."

Contributing: Kevin Johnson, Trevor Hughes, Caroline Simon, Mike James and WUSA

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