Staff at the Capital Gazette were determined to put out the next day’s edition of the paper despite a shooting in the newsroom which left five people dead.

“I can tell you this: We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow,” Chase Cook, a reporter at the Maryland daily, wrote on Twitter a few hours after the shooting.

The Gazette published its Friday edition in spite of the fact its newsroom had been turned into an off-limits crime scene.

The paper’s website also featured in-depth stories on the shooting, photos and profiles of each of the staff members killed and a profile on the suspected shooter.

The suspect used a shotgun to blast his way through to the newsroom in Annapolis on Thursday, killing four journalists and one member of staff.

He fired through a glass door, searched for victims and then sprayed the room with repeated blasts of his shotgun as journalists took cover and crawled under desks.

Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Show all 10 1 /10 Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Police respond to the shooting in Annapolis, AFP/Getty Images Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Pat Furgurson, staff reporter of the Capital Gazette, reports outside the scene of a shooting EPA/JAY FLEMING Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Police and first responders attend the scebe EPA Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted A member of the FBI responds to the shooting in Annapoli AFP/Getty Images Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Authorities work at the scene AP Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Emergency personnel outside the Capital-Gazette newspaper Getty Images Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Capital Gazette reporter Chase Cook, right, and photographer Joshua McKerrow, left, work on the next days newspaper while awaiting news from their colleagues. AFP/Getty Images Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Police respond to a shooting in Annapolis, Maryland, June 28, 2018. At least five people were killed Thursday when a gunman opened fire inside the offices of the Capital Gazette, a newspaper published in Annapolis, a historic city an hour east of Washington.A reporter for the daily, Phil Davis, tweeted that a "gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees.""There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload," Davis said. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images SAUL LOEB AFP/Getty Images Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted "This was a targeted attack on the Capital Gazette," William Krampf, the Anne Arundel County acting police chief, said Thursday evening during a press conference, referring ot the joint name that appears at the office to describe the two papers that work inside. "This person was prepared today to come in. This person was prepared to shoot people. His intent was to cause harm, and as I've stated before, the investigative part of this is going to be thorough, and it's going to take some time," EPA Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Police secure the scene AP

Phil Davis, a courts and crime reporter for the paper, tweeted to say the gunman shot out the glass door to the office and fired into the newsroom, sending people scrambling under desks.

“There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk and then hear the gunman reload,” he wrote in a tweet.

In a later interview on the paper’s online site, Mr Davis likened the newspaper office to 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.”

Survivors said the shooting, though it seemed agonisingly long, lasted mere minutes.

The police said officers arrived within a minute and took the gunman into custody without an exchange of gunfire.

Donald Trump ignores reporters asking for his reaction to Maryland shooting

It came amid months of attacks on the “fake news media” from Donald Trump and his administration.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Thank you to all of the First Responders who are currently on the scene,” the US president said in a tweet.

Those killed included Rob Hiaasen, the paper’s assistant managing editor; Gerald Fischman, editorial page editor; features reporter Wendi Winters; reporter John McNamara, and sales assistant Rebecca Smith.