Rob Cox, Global Editor for Thomson Reuters’ Breakingviews vertical, said the Capital Gazette newspaper shooting was a direct response to President Donald Trump’s criticism of the mainstream media.

https://twitter.com/rob1cox/status/1012431488791597058

“This is what happens when @realDonaldTrump calls journalists the enemy of the people,” Cox tweeted following the shooting. “Blood is on your hands, Mr. President. Save your thoughts and prayers for your empty soul.”

UPDATE: Cox has since deleted the tweet and acknowledges “jumping to a conclusion.”

Fair enough to call me out for jumping to a conclusion about the motives here. Vilifying any category of people – journalists, migrants, conservatives, liberals etc – can incite violence. This one hits close to home. Genuinely saddened. https://t.co/pyr3HTFzbQ — Rob Cox (@rob1cox) June 28, 2018

UPDATE #2: Still hours later, Cox tweets an apology and a concession that his comments “were not in keeping with the Reuters Trust Principles.”

When I saw the news today that a mass shooter had targeted the employees of a newspaper in Maryland I responded emotionally and inappropriately. — Rob Cox (@rob1cox) June 29, 2018

2- Though my comments were entirely personal, they were not in keeping with the Reuters Trust Principles and my own standards for letting facts, not snap judgments, guide my understanding. — Rob Cox (@rob1cox) June 29, 2018

3 – My experience as a member of the community of Newtown, Connecticut in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook tragedy, combined with the possibility that my colleagues in the press were being targeted, pushed me into a state of emotional distress. — Rob Cox (@rob1cox) June 29, 2018

4 – I am sorry for my comments, which I quickly deleted and have disavowed, and especially remorseful if they did anything to distract from the thoughts and love we must send to the community of Annapolis. — Rob Cox (@rob1cox) June 29, 2018

Law enforcement confirmed at least 5 people are dead and 7 others are injured after a suspect gunman opened fire inside the Capital Gazette’s newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland. Neither that information nor further details on the suspect were confirmed at the time of Cox’s post.

#BREAKING: Law enforcement say there are at least 5 dead and 7 others injured in Capital gazette shooting in Annapolis, Maryland — Mike Cherry (@MikeCherryWMUR) June 28, 2018

“Rob Cox helped found Breakingviews.com in 2000 in London. From 2004 he spearheaded the publication’s expansion in the United States and edited daily Breakingviews columns in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal,” according to his biography. “Rob has worked as a financial journalist in London, Milan, New York, Washington, Chicago, and Tokyo. Rob was named Global Editor of Breakingviews in December 2012, three years after it was acquired by Thomson Reuters.”