Several dead in newsroom shooting in Maryland capital Annapolis

The office of the newspaper, whose online version is the Capital Gazette, is in a commercial zone behind a bank.

“There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk and then hear the gunman reload”, Davis said.

The chief said the weapon was a 12-gauge shotgun, legally purchased about a year ago despite the harassment case in which Ramos pleaded guilty. His public defenders had no comment. He was dressed in blue detention clothing.

Federal officials told news organizations those precautions are common in the wake of mass shootings like the one at the Capital Gazette, where five journalists were killed in the 154th mass shooting of the year. Authorities have charged Jarrod W. Ramos with five counts of first-degree murder in the killings inside Maryland’s Capital Gazette office on Thursday.

Chief Altomare also he confirmed that investigators used facial recognition technology to identify the suspect, but said previous reports that Ramos had mutilated his own fingertips to make identification more hard were not true.

Police gave no immediate details on the gunman or the motive for the attack at The Capital Gazette and said the suspect was being interrogated. They recovered a gun and said he also carried smoke grenades.

A vigil for the victims was planned for 8pm local time on Friday. All are welcome. On Saturday, the 5:30 p.m. Eucharist at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in downtown will be offered for the victims.

Police held a final press conference on the shooting on Friday and revealed the Capital Gazette met with lawyers and police in 2013 to discuss if they should press charges against Ramos, who had posted threats on social media aimed at the paper.

Even in light of Ramos’ animosity toward the newspaper, Altomare said, “We can’t fathom why that person chose to do this”.

It was “a horrific shooting”, President Trump said shortly after noon on Friday.

He confirmed Ramos, who has declined to cooperate with investigators and stood in silence as he appeared in court via videolink on Friday, was identified using facial recognition technology.

In his lawsuit, Ramos said the article contained false and defamatory statements, and injured his reputation.

Phil Davis, the paper’s crime reporter, hid under his desk while the shootings took place.

In the shade of a auto park in Maryland’s capital Annapolis, three journalists from the Capital Gazette typed grimly away – still without news of colleagues killed or injured when a gunman stormed the publication earlier on Thursday.

“We always encourage blood donations because that allows the hospitals to have the resources they need to respond to events like this shooting”, McNamara said in an email to WTOP.

Anne Arundel acting police Chief William Krampf said a man in his late 30s, identified by The Baltimore Sun as Jarrod Ramos, intentionally targeted the newspaper when he entered the building with a shotgun Thursday afternoon, looking for his victims.

Ramos was “uncooperative” with his interrogators, police said, and in court papers, authorities described him as “recalcitrant”.

Last February, just moments after the president declared that the media is “the enemy of the American people”, a friend and now former colleague of mine spun around in his chair and proclaimed, or rather predicted (Andrew mostly spoke in prophecies), that “journalists will be killed because of this”.