Five People Dead At Capital Gazette Newspaper Shooting In Maryland, Officials Say

At least five people have died, and others were seriously injured, after a gunman opened fire on reporters and editors at the Capital Gazette, a newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, officials said.

A suspect is in custody, officials confirmed, but they were able to give no motive for the crime at this time. 

Fox News showed video of a press conference officials held this afternoon. 

“Gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees,” tweeted Phil Davis, a crime reporter for the paper, which is owned by the Baltimore Sun. Davis confirmed multiple people had been shot and that some of them had died. “It’s bad,” he wrote.

Davis also said the mass shooting was carried out by a “single shooter.” It started at around 2:35 p.m., according to WTTG-TV in Washington D.C.

Cops managed to make it to the shooting scene within 60 seconds, according to officials at the press conference. "If they were not there as quickly as they were it could have been a lot worse," Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley told the Baltimore Sun.

As of Thursday evening, officers were stationed at the Baltimore Sun office. They said it was a precautionary measure and not because of a specific threat, according to that newspaper. 

The Capital Gazette is located on the first floor of an office building with 30 other tenants. A lawyer on the fourth floor barricaded his door with an overturned desk until SWAT officers arrived, according to the Baltimore Sun. 

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND - JUNE 28: Emergency personnel congregate outside the Capital-Gazette newspaper building on June 28, 2018 in Annapolis, Maryland. Five people were killed when a gunman opened fire in the newsroom, according to published reports. One person is in custody. (Photo by Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images) Photo: Getty

Another tenant said cops told everyone to put their hands up and sprint outside of the building. "That was the scariest part," Bethany Clasing told the Baltimore Sun. 

Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as well as the FBI were assisting local law enforcement with the investigation, officials said. 

“There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload,” Davis wrote on Twitter. Davis was already safe when he started tweeting, he wrote.

[Photo: Getty]