In the wake of the shooting at Annapolis, Maryland's Capital Gazette that left five people dead on Thursday, leading Republicans did what they always do after a mass shooting: offer their "thoughts and prayers" to the victims and their families, and not much else. Fed up with lawmakers' refusal to address America's gun violence problem, a reporter who survived the shooting put the issue bluntly—telling CNN she "couldn't give a fuck about" thoughts and prayers if they're not backed up by action.
In a gut-wrenching interview with Anderson Cooper, Capital Gazette staff writer Selene San Felice described what it was like to cower under a desk and text her parents to tell them she loved them, adding that—as horrifying as the shooting was—"people will forget about us after a week."
"I'm going to need more than a couple days of news coverage and some thoughts and prayers, because it's—our whole lives have been shattered," she said. "And so thanks for your prayers, but I couldn't give a fuck about them if there's nothing else."
San Felice gave the interview alongside Phil Davis, another Capital Gazette staff writer who tweeted a harrowing account of the shooting on Thursday afternoon. He told Cooper that while the shooter reloaded inside the office, he prayed that "there weren't going to be more bodies"—but that prayers weren't enough to stop a mass shooting.
"If we're at a position in our society where all we can offer each other is prayers, then where are we?" Davis said. "Where are we as a society where people die, and that's the end of that story?"
The cops arrested the suspected shooter, 38-year-old Jarrod Ramos, who reportedly held a grudge against the paper ever since it covered a case in which he plead guilty to harassing a woman in 2011. He once tried to sue the Capital Gazette, and has made several death threats against its reporters. He's been charged with five counts of first degree murder.
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