MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said the shooting at The Capital Gazette newspaper that left five people dead was not related to President Trump or the increased hostility towards the media on Friday morning.
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“This was a local dispute, and this was a situation that went back to 2011, so certainly no evidence of that there, but I think everybody agrees when you see scenes like this. Everybody agrees it serves us all well to tone down the rhetoric,” Scarborough stated.
“A lot of people were worried about exactly where this came from,” co-host Mika Brzezinski said.
The shooter has been identified and it has been revealed that he had a longstanding feud with the paper. (RELATED: ANNAPOLIS SHOOTER IDENTIFIED, CALLED GAZETTE HIS ‘SWORN BLOOD ENEMIES’)
She continued, “There were obviously years of concern about this person and the defamation suit but it still hits home for newsrooms across the country to see something like this happened there. It raises obviously the issue of guns in America but also the job reporters do every day.”
Many people blamed the president for the shooting for his rhetoric surrounding the press and “fake news.”(RELATED: JOURNOS, LEFTISTS BLAME TRUMP FOR MARYLAND NEWSROOM SHOOTING)