An assailant wielding a shotgun opened fire on a Maryland newsroom Thursday afternoon, killing five and leaving several others “gravely” wounded, officials said.
The gunman, who attacked the Capital Gazette, a local newspaper in Annapolis, was engaged by responding officers within about 1 minute and taken into custody, officials from Anne Arundel County Government said.
There was no gunfire exchanged between the suspect — described as an adult male — and officers, officials said during an afternoon news briefing.
The suspected shooter wasn’t carrying a wallet or identification and is not cooperating with authorities, officials told ABC News.
Phil Davis, a crime and courts reporter with the Capital Gazette, said the gunman shot through a glass door into the office.
“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.
Davis described the experience as being “like a war zone.”
“I’m a police reporter. I write about this stuff,” Davis later told The Baltimore Sun, which owns the Gazette, after he escaped the building. “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.”
Capital Gazette photojournalist Joshua McKerrow tweeted that he and his colleagues are continuing to cover the story, along with Baltimore Sun reporters.
“There will be a Capital Friday,” he said.
After the shooting, about 170 people were safely evacuated from the building and no one else there is a threat, officials said.
Authorities recovered “what we thought may have been an explosive device,” said Anne Arundel County Acting Police Chief William Kramph. “That’s been taken care of. We have members of the bomb squad on scene. We don’t anticipate having any more explosive devices.”
A man who works across from the Capital Gazette offices said he heard “an incredibly loud bang.”
“I saw a guy holding a gun,” he told ABC affiliate WJLA in Washington, D.C. “The door of The Capital Gazette had been blown to pieces.”
The U.S. Naval Academy tweeted, “The Capital Gazette is our local newspaper and is often the first to tell our story. We are grieving with their staff and loved ones after the tragic events that occurred today.”
“Absolutely devastated to learn of this tragedy in Annapolis,” Gov. Larry Hogan wrote on Twitter. “Please, heed all warnings and stay away from the area. Praying for those at the scene and for our community.”
President Trump, who was briefed on the shooting as the incident was unfolding, later tweeted, “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.”
Out of an abundance of caution, the New York Police Department is moving personnel to headquarters of major media outlets in New York, including ABC News.
“The NYPD has deployed counterterrorism teams to media organizations in and around New York City. These deployments are not based on specific threat information, but rather out of an abundance of caution until we learn more about the suspect and motives behind the Maryland shooting,” said John Miller, deputy commissioner for counterterrorism and intelligence, in a statement. “It has become a standard practice to shift resources strategically during active shooter or terrorist events.”
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