Speaking out hours aftersurviving a massacrein their newsroomthat killed five people, two Maryland newspaper writers bemoaned what they described as America’s reflexive complacency in response toongoing mass shootings.“I have heard that President Trump sent his prayers — I’m not trying to make this political, right? — but we need more than prayers,” Selene San Felice told Anderson Cooper on CNN on Thursday night, some six hours after a gunman attackedtheCapital Gazettein Annapolis.“I appreciate the prayers, I was praying the entire time I was under that desk,” she said. “I want your prayers, but I want something else. I need more than that.”Alongside Felice on CNN, fellowGazettewriter Phil Davis sounded a similar note — frustration mixed with shock.“If we’re in a position in our society where all we can offer each other is prayers, then where are we?” he said. “Where are we as a society where people die and that’s the end of that story?”“This is going to be a story for how many days, less than a week?” Felice said, adding, “I just don’t know what I want right now, right, but I’m going to need more than a couple days of news coverage and some thoughts and prayers, because our whole lives have been shattered.”She continued, “So thanks for your prayers, but I couldn’t give a f— about them if there’s nothing else.”According to authorities, 38-year-old Jarrod Warren Ramos opened fire on the newspaper’s offices around 2:40 p.m.,killing five and wounding two others. Ramos reportedlyhad a long-standing grudge against theGazette, having once sued them for defamation. He was taken into custody at the scene andhas since been charged with murder.Police described his as a “targeted attack.”“This person was prepared to shoot people,” said William Krampf, acting chief of the Anne Arundel County Police Department. “His intent was to cause harm.”• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage?Click hereto get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.Approximately an hour after the shooting began, President Donald Trump — who has made vitriolic denigrations of the press, including specific reporters, a key political tactic since before taking office —tweeted his condolencesin general terms.“My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” he wrote, in part. “Thank you to all of the First Responders who are currently on the scene.”Trump’s press secretarylater tweetedthat “a violent attack on innocent journalists doing their job is an attack on every American.”Joshua McKerrow/Capital Gazette/TNS/ABACA PRESSMark Wilson/GettySpeaking to Cooper on Thursday, Felice recalled being in the offices when the shooting began. She said she watched colleague John McNamara be killed.“It’s hard for me to think past the next 30 minutes right now, in my life,” Felice said. “Thirty minutes is a long time. … But I’m here and I’m talking to you and I know that a lot of people are listening.”With a shaking voice, she told Cooper she had covered the massacre at the Pulse night club in Orlando in 2016 and her experience there was a harrowing portent of what she experienced in her own workplace.“I remember being so upset hearing about the [Pulse] victims who were texting their families,” she said, “and there I was, sitting under a desk, texting my parents, telling them that I loved them.”
Speaking out hours aftersurviving a massacrein their newsroomthat killed five people, two Maryland newspaper writers bemoaned what they described as America’s reflexive complacency in response toongoing mass shootings.
“I have heard that President Trump sent his prayers — I’m not trying to make this political, right? — but we need more than prayers,” Selene San Felice told Anderson Cooper on CNN on Thursday night, some six hours after a gunman attackedtheCapital Gazettein Annapolis.
“I appreciate the prayers, I was praying the entire time I was under that desk,” she said. “I want your prayers, but I want something else. I need more than that.”
Alongside Felice on CNN, fellowGazettewriter Phil Davis sounded a similar note — frustration mixed with shock.
“If we’re in a position in our society where all we can offer each other is prayers, then where are we?” he said. “Where are we as a society where people die and that’s the end of that story?”
“This is going to be a story for how many days, less than a week?” Felice said, adding, “I just don’t know what I want right now, right, but I’m going to need more than a couple days of news coverage and some thoughts and prayers, because our whole lives have been shattered.”
She continued, “So thanks for your prayers, but I couldn’t give a f— about them if there’s nothing else.”
According to authorities, 38-year-old Jarrod Warren Ramos opened fire on the newspaper’s offices around 2:40 p.m.,killing five and wounding two others. Ramos reportedlyhad a long-standing grudge against theGazette, having once sued them for defamation. He was taken into custody at the scene andhas since been charged with murder.
Police described his as a “targeted attack.”
“This person was prepared to shoot people,” said William Krampf, acting chief of the Anne Arundel County Police Department. “His intent was to cause harm.”
• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage?Click hereto get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
Approximately an hour after the shooting began, President Donald Trump — who has made vitriolic denigrations of the press, including specific reporters, a key political tactic since before taking office —tweeted his condolencesin general terms.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” he wrote, in part. “Thank you to all of the First Responders who are currently on the scene.”
Trump’s press secretarylater tweetedthat “a violent attack on innocent journalists doing their job is an attack on every American.”
Joshua McKerrow/Capital Gazette/TNS/ABACA PRESS
Mark Wilson/Getty
Speaking to Cooper on Thursday, Felice recalled being in the offices when the shooting began. She said she watched colleague John McNamara be killed.
“It’s hard for me to think past the next 30 minutes right now, in my life,” Felice said. “Thirty minutes is a long time. … But I’m here and I’m talking to you and I know that a lot of people are listening.”
With a shaking voice, she told Cooper she had covered the massacre at the Pulse night club in Orlando in 2016 and her experience there was a harrowing portent of what she experienced in her own workplace.
“I remember being so upset hearing about the [Pulse] victims who were texting their families,” she said, “and there I was, sitting under a desk, texting my parents, telling them that I loved them.”
source: people.com
