Suspect 'looked for victims' and barricaded exit before shooting five dead at Capital Gazette office in Maryland
Video Report by ITV News Correspondent Robert Moore
Five people have been killed after a man armed with a shotgun and smoke grenades launched a targeted attack on a newspaper's offices in the US.
Prosecutors have said that prime suspect Jarrod W Ramos, who was arrested at the scene, barricaded the exit door so employees couldn't escape.
Police arrived at the scene in 60 seconds and stormed The Capital Gazette building, arresting Ramos who was hiding under a desk.
The suspect's deadly attack followed social media threats directed at the Annapolis newspaper.
Authorities said a gunman entered the building in the attack and “looked for his victims”.
Ramos allegedly held a grudge against Maryland's capital-city newspaper.
He blasted his way into the newsroom with a pump-action shotgun, killing four journalists and one staffer in one of the deadliest attacks on the press in U.S history.
Those killed in the attack have been identified as:
Rob Hiaasen, 59, journalist and columnist
Rebecca Smith, sales assistant
John McNamara, writer
Wendi Winters, special publications editor
Gerald Fischman, editorial page editor
Mr Hiaasen was the brother of novelist Carl Hiaasen, who paid tribute to the 59-year-old saying he was “devastated and heartsick” at his death of his brother, “one of the most gentle and funny people I’ve ever known".
Just hours after the shooting the defiant newspaper tweeted that they would be "putting out a newspaper" on Friday, posting an image of the front page of a paper which contained tributes to those killed.
In a statement, U.S. President Donald Trump said:
“Journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their job.”
He added that the shooting had "shocked the conscience of the nation and filled our hearts with grief."
He also offered his condolences to the families of the victims, saying “there are no words to express our sorrow.”
Anne Arundel County acting police chief William Krampf said the gunman was a Maryland resident and search warrants were being sought for his home.
He continued: "This person was prepared today to come in, this person was prepared to shoot people. His intent was to cause harm.”
Phil Davis, a reporter who covers courts and crime for the paper, tweeted that the gunman shot out the glass door to the office and fired into the newsroom, sending people scrambling for cover under desks.
“A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead,” he wrote.
Mr Davis added: “There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk and then hear the gunman reload.”
The attacker had mutilated his fingers in an apparent attempt to make it harder to identify him, according to a law enforcement official.
Another official said investigators identified the man using facial recognition technology.
Authorities continued that the suspect was undergoing questioning by detectives.
In 2012, Ramos filed a defamation lawsuit against the paper, alleging he was harmed by an article about his conviction in a criminal harassment case a year earlier.
The suit was dismissed by a judge who wrote Ramos had not shown “anything that was published about you is, in fact, false.” An appeals court later upheld the dismissal.
However, the US President failed to respond to the questions of reporters or give a verbal statement on the shooting when he was seen outside the White House on Thursday evening as he prepared to leave for Wisconsin.
About 170 people in all were evacuated from the building as a multitude of police cars and other emergency vehicles converged on the scene. People could be seen leaving the building with their hands up.
The newspaper is part of Capital Gazette Communications, which also publishes the Maryland Gazette and CapitalGazette.com.
In an interview with The Capital Gazette’s online site, Mr Davis said it “was like a war zone” inside the newspaper’s offices — a situation that would be “hard to describe for a while”.
“I’m a police reporter. I write about this stuff – not necessarily to this extent, but shootings and death – all the time,” he said.
“But as much as I’m going to try to articulate how traumatising it is to be hiding under your desk, you don’t know until you’re there and you feel helpless.”
Mr Davis told the paper he and others were still hiding under their desks when the gunman stopped firing.
“I don’t know why. I don’t know why he stopped,” he said.
Reporter Selene San Felice told the CNN broadcast outlet she was at her desk when she heard the shooting and ran with some others to a back door only to find it locked. She said she saw a colleague steps away as he was shot but did not get a view of the shooter as she sought to hide.
“I heard footsteps a couple of times … I was breathing really loud and was trying not to, but I couldn’t be quiet,” she added.
Annapolis mayor Gavin Buckley said the community is grieving the attack on their community paper.
“These are the guys that come to city council meetings, have to listen to boring politicians and sit there,” Mr Buckley said.
“They don’t make a lot of money It’s just immoral that their lives should be in danger.”
The shooting — which came amid months of verbal and online attacks on the “fake news media” – prompted New York City police to immediately tighten security at news organisations in the nation’s media capital.
New York police sent counterterrorism teams to news organisations around the city in a move authorities said was a precaution, not prompted by any specific threat.
Police could be seen outside The New York Times, ABC News and Fox News early in the evening.