BFF-06 Five dead in ‘targeted attack’ on US newsroom

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BFF-06

US-SHOOTING-MEDIA,WRAP-UPDATE

Five dead in ‘targeted attack’ on US newsroom

ANNAPOLIS, United States, June 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A man armed with a
shotgun and smoke grenades burst into a newspaper office in the US city of
Annapolis on Thursday, killing five people in what police described as a
“targeted attack.”

Officials said the shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper was carried
out by a white adult male resident of Maryland state who was being questioned
in custody.

A reporter for the daily, which has roots dating back to the early
eighteenth century, tweeted a chilling account of how the “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,” crime reporter
Phil Davis said.

There were five fatalities and two superficial injuries, the acting police
chief of Anne Arundel county, Bill Krampf, told a news conference in
Maryland’s capital.

The Baltimore Sun — which owns the Capital Gazette — named Rob Hiaasen,
the paper’s assistant editor, who mentored young journalists and wrote in a
“wryly observant” style, as one of the victims of the shooting.

“This was a targeted attack on the Capital Gazette,” Krampf said.

He said that police did not yet know the shooter’s motive, but “we know
that there were threats sent to the Gazette through social media.”

“We’re trying to confirm what account that was and we’re trying to confirm
who actually sent them,” Krampf added.

US media identified the suspected shooter as Jarrod Ramos, whom the Sun
said had a long-running dispute with the newspaper over a 2011 story “that
covered a criminal harassment case against him.”

– Still going to print –

Jimmy DeButts, a Capital Gazette journalist, tweeted that he was
“devastated & heartbroken. Numb.”

“I’m in no position to speak, just know @capgaznews reporters & editors
give all they have every day. There are no 40 hour weeks, no big paydays –
just a passion for telling stories from our community,” DeButts wrote.

Chase Cook, a reporter at the newspaper, said the shooting would not stop
The Capital — the local print edition — from going to press.

“We’re putting out a paper tomorrow,” vowed Cook as he typed grimly away in
the shade of a car park, perched on the back of a pick-up truck.

“I don’t know what else to do except this,” he said. “We’re just doing our
job.”

Gracie Rustin, a dental assistant who was in the middle of a procedure on
the second floor of the building when the attack took place, heard “loud
noises” but did not immediately realize it was a shooting.

Then police rushed in and “were like, ‘Leave, leave, leave!'” Rustin told
AFP.

Two floors up, Sean Robinson, who works for an insurance company, took
shelter away as far as possible from the entrance and texted his wife to say,
“Hey, this is going on. Just pray.”

When he heard a sound at the door, he asked himself — “friend or foe?”

It turned out to be a SWAT team, armed with assault rifles.

President Donald Trump, who has been at loggerheads with much of the media
since taking office, tweeted a message of support.

“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,” he wrote.

– ‘Attack on every American’ –

“A violent attack on innocent journalists doing their job is an attack on
every American,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders tweeted.

Several lawmakers also weighed in.

“My heart is with the families, friends and loved ones of the victims as we
learn more about this terrible situation,” Chris Van Hollen, the state’s
junior senator said. “We must unite to end the violence.”

“The senseless attack on a Maryland newspaper today is sickening. God bless
these journalists,” House Speaker Paul Ryan tweeted.

A recent study found that Americans own 40 percent of the world’s firearms
despite accounting for only four percent of the global population.

Of the 857 million guns owned by civilians, 393 million are in the United
States — more than all of the firearms held by ordinary citizens in the
other top 25 countries combined, according to the Small Arms Survey.

Advocates of tougher gun laws have stepped up their efforts in the wake of
numerous school shootings this year, including the killing of 17 people at a
Parkland, Florida high school in February and the killing of 10 people at a
Texas high school in May.

So far the results have been relatively modest. Florida has raised the
legal age to buy firearms from 18 to 21, while Texas Governor Greg Abbott
focused on mental health and improving school safety in his list of
recommendations following the Santa Fe shooting in the rural southeast of his
state.

BSS/AFP/MRI/0843 hrs