A reporter for The Capital Gazette in Maryland who tweeted about the shooting Thursday that ultimately killed five people and injured several others described the newsroom as "like a war zone" during the attack.
"I'm a police reporter," Phil Davis, who also covers business and politics for the Maryland newspaper, told Baltimoresun.com. "I write about this stuff — not necessarily to this extent, but shootings and death — all the time.
"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."
Anne Arundel County Acting Police Chief William Krampf said five people were killed and several others were "gravely injured" after a gunman opened fire at the newspaper, in Maryland's capital city, shortly after 3 p.m. ET.
Police spokesman Lt. Ryan Frashure said a suspect was in custody and was being interviewed.
Davis tweeted earlier the gunman shot through the glass door to the newsroom and fired on multiple employees:
He later told Baltimoresun.com, which owns the Gazette, the situation would be "hard to describe for a while."
Davis said he and other staffers 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.
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