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Police officers talk to a man as they respond to an active shooter at Maryland's Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis on Thursday.
Police officers talk to a man as they respond to an active shooter at Maryland’s Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis on Thursday. [NPR]

Capital Gazette Shooting: At Least 5 Fatalities, Many Others Injured

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Update 5:15 p.m. ET

Five people are dead and several others were injured in a shooting at Maryland’s Capital Gazette newspaper, Thursday afternoon.

At a press conference, acting chief of Anne Arundel County Police William Krampf told reporters a suspect is in custody and being interrogated by law enforcement.

Lt. Ryan Frashure added that “at this point he’s the only suspect.”

“That person is at criminal investigations unit down in Crownsville [Md.],” Frashure said.

Authorities have not said where inside the multi-story building the shootings happened, but reporters at the newspaper have tweeted it was inside the newsroom.

The building has been evacuated.

Reporter Phil Davis took to Twitter to describe what happened. He wrote: “Gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees.”

Anthony Messenger, an intern for the newspaper, first tweeted about the shooting at 2:43 p.m. ET, writing, “Active shooter 888 Bestgate please help us.”

The newspaper’s website lists 20 newsroom employees.

Frashure said during a news conference that law enforcement from Annapolis, nearby Howard County, the Maryland State Police and federal agencies were participating in the response.

He said authorities were focused on clearing the building and reuniting the people inside with their families. Relatives should go to the Lord & Taylor outlet at the nearby Annapolis Mall, he said.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan tweeted he was “absolutely devastated to learn of this tragedy,” adding that he is in contact with authorities on the scene.

This is a breaking news story. As often happens in situations like these, some information reported early may turn out to be inaccurate. We’ll move quickly to correct the record and we’ll only point to the best information we have at the time.

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