Capital Gazette crime reporter Phil Davis says there’s nothing more terrifying than “hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk, and then hear the gunman reload.”
That’s just one of the many tweets Davis posted shortly after a gunman opened fire on the newspaper’s office in Annapolis, MD., Thursday afternoon, which left at least five people dead and several “gravely injured,” according to police.
Davis’s tweets painted a graphic picture of the incident, one of which stated that the gunman first shot through the glass door of the office before turning his weapon on multiple employees. At the time of this tweet, just before 4 p.m. EDT, no fatalities had been confirmed.
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“Gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees. Can’t say much more and don’t want to declare anyone dead, but it’s bad,” read the tweet.
Davis eventually made it to safety, according to his tweets, where he waited to be interviewed by police.
A massive police presence could be seen outside the office of the paper, which is owned by the Baltimore Sun. Television reports depicted people leaving the building with their hands up, as police urged them to depart through the parking lot.
According to an Anne Arundel County Police spokesman Mark Limansky, officers were in the process of searching the building. Local news outlets have begun to report that the building is clear, though this has not been confirmed.
WATCH: Police respond to active shooter at Annapolis newspaper
Another police spokesperson, Lt. Ryan Frashure, confirmed at a news conference that there was an active shooter situation inside the building before the suspect was detained.
“We did have an active shooter situation inside that building. Again, we do have injuries. I can’t give the extent of those injuries at this point.”
Though Davis’ tweets garnered the most attention, he isn’t the only Capital Gazette reporter that tweeted about the event. Capital Gazette intern Anthony Messenger tweeted at approximately 3 p.m. local time, “Active shooter 888 Bestgate please help us.”
A Capital Gazette and Baltimore Sun photojournalist simply tweeted “Heartbroken,” after police announced they’d detained the suspect and the fatalities were confirmed.
Davis was interviewed by the Capital Gazette’s online site, and described the situation like a “war zone.”
“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.”
— With a file from the Associated Press