Jackson Free Press

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A gunman opened fire at a newspaper office in Annapolis on Thursday, killing five people and gravely wounding a number of others before being taken into custody in one of the deadliest attacks on journalists in U.S. history, police and witnesses said.

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.

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.

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 gunman is believed to have used a shotgun, according to a U.S. official who was briefed on the investigation but not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said the gunman was not cooperating with investigators.

Anne Arundel County Acting Police Chief William Krampf confirmed five deaths and said several others were gravely hurt.

The New York Police Department immediately deployed counterterrorism teams to news organizations around the city in a move police said was prompted not by any specific threat but was instead done as a precaution. Police could be seen outside The New York Times, ABC News and Fox News early in the evening.

In Maryland, police spokesman Lt. Ryan Frashure said officers raced to the scene, arriving in 60 seconds, and engaged the shooter.

At least two patients were taken to a nearby hospital; their condition was not immediately released.

People could be seen leaving the newspaper building with their hands up as police cars and other emergency vehicles converged on the scene.

In an interview with The Capital Gazette's online site, 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 traumatizing it is to be hiding under your desk, you don't know until you're there and you feel helpless."

Davis told the paper he and others were still hiding under their desks when the shooter stopped firing.

"I don't know why. I don't know why he stopped," he said.

The newspaper is part of Capital Gazette Communications, which also publishes the Maryland Gazette and CapitalGazette.com.