Two Capital Gazette staff writers said they need more than prayers after their fellow colleagues were killed Thursday by a gunman.
“I have heard that President Trump sent his prayers. I’m not trying to make this political, alright?” staff writer Selene San Felice said. “But we need more than prayers. I appreciate the prayers. I was praying the entire time I was under that desk. I want your prayers, but I want something else.”
At least five people were killed and several others were wounded during the shooting. The suspect, who law enforcement sources identified as Jarrod Warren Ramos, was arrested and taken into custody.
San Felice said editors were killed and she watched someone die in her newsroom. She and staff writer Phil Davis hid under their desks as the gunman reloaded and opened fire on the newsroom.
San Felice said she was texting her parents and telling them that she loved them, just like the victims of the the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting did.
“I just don’t know what I want right now. Right?” she said. “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. And so thanks for your prayers, but I couldn’t give a F— about them if there’s nothing else.”
Capital Gazette staff writer Phil Davis questioned society’s response to mass shootings.
“If we’re going to have a position in our society where all we offer each other is prayers, then where are we? Where are we as a society, where people die and that’s the end of that story,” he said.
He said he heard the gunman shoot through a glass door on the first floor. Davis, a crime and courts reporter, said he wondered if they were all going to die when he heard the gunman reload. He said The Capital’s employees were just doing their jobs and had no motive to hate the gunman.
“It makes you feel powerless. It makes you feel helpless. It removes all control from every facet of your life within only a few seconds once you understand what’s happening,” he said.