A gunman has opened fire at a local newspaper office in Maryland, killing five people and injuring others in what police said was a “targeted attack,” the BBC reports.
Staff at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis said the attacker, armed with a shotgun and smoke grenades, shot through a glass door into the newsroom.
US media have named a suspect held by police as Jarrod Ramos, who is reported to have unsuccessfully sued the newspaper group in 2012 for defamation.
Police have not confirmed a motive.
They said a white male suspect in his late 30s was taken into custody at the scene of the shooting and was being questioned.
Investigators were said to be looking into “violent” threats that had been made against the Capital Gazette via social media.
“This was a targeted attack on the Capital Gazette,” said William Krampf, deputy chief of Anne Arundel County Police. He added that the gunman “entered the building with a shotgun and looked for his victims as he walked through the lower level”.
