Five people have been shot dead and several more injured by a gunman at the offices of Capital Gazette, a newspaper in the Maryland capital of Annapolis. The shooter is in custody, police said.
“There are several people who have died,” Anne Arundel County executive Steven Schuh told reporters on Thursday afternoon. “The shooter is in custody and being interrogated.”
“We do have fatalities and we do have serious injuries,” acting police chief Bill Kramph said, adding later that there were “five dead.” Police is interviewing numerous witnesses as well as the suspect.
There were multiple reports from local media that “at least four people” have been shot. Officers reportedly arrived less than two minutes after the call. A massive police presence remains on Bestgate Road in Annapolis, an office park across the street from the Annapolis Mall.
This is from an intern at the Capital Gazette in #Annapolis. @WMAR2News is working on getting more information and sending a crew that way. https://t.co/5PCFvDA4Rf
— Skyler A. Henry (@SkylerHenry) June 28, 2018
“A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead,” Gazette’s crime report reporter Phil Davis said on Twitter, while waiting to be 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.”
Gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees. Can’t say much more and don’t want to declare anyone dead, but it’s bad.
— Phil Davis (@PhilDavis_CG) June 28, 2018
Anne Arundel Sheriff Ron Bateman told Fox News the attacker was in custody. Emergency scanner traffic spoke of “four deceased.” Witnesses told local media the attacker was armed with a shotgun.
“We do have injuries. We did have an active shooter situation,” Lt. Ryan Frashure, spokesman for the Anne Arundel Police Department, told reporters earlier.
Following speculation that the shooting may have been motivated by hostility for the media, police in Baltimore and New York City have stationed officers at newsrooms for protection.
The Baltimore Sun, which owns the Gazette, confirmed that police have visited their newsroom on Thursday afternoon.
BPD at @baltimoresun for precautionary sweep in light of Capital-Gazette incident pic.twitter.com/ZduDQAcoDS
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) June 28, 2018
Annapolis is a city of some 40,000 residents on the shores of Chesapeake Bay, and is the state capital of Maryland.
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