U.S. newsrooms fall silent to honor 5 slain at Md. paper

(AP) – Newsrooms usually abuzz with approaching deadlines fell oddly silent as journalists nationwide paused to honor five people shot dead a week before inside a Maryland newspaper.

At a temporary office of the Capital Gazette, where the massacre occurred in Annapolis, Maryland, survivors gathered somberly at 2:33 p.m. Thursday. The Baltimore Sun reports that editor Rick Hutzell rang a bell and the staff lit candles for each person who died exactly seven days earlier.

Similar ceremonies were held at news outlets nationwide.

Executive editor Paige Mudd of the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia says what happened in Annapolis is a reminder that journalists' work makes them vulnerable.

A man with a longtime grudge against the Maryland newspaper has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder. He is being held without bail.