What appeared to be a spray of small-caliber bullets left several windows shattered at the Lexington Herald-Leader on Sunday.
Three windows shattered and two more that didn’t shatter showed damage consistent with small-caliber bullets, the paper’s staff reported. Investigators with the Lexington Police agreed with that assessment, and told the paper they were investigating the incident as criminal mischief, according to the same report.
The paper’s editor and vice president, Peter Baniak, told the Huffington Post: “We at the Herald-Leader want to be cautious about speculating and we don’t want to connect the dots until there are dots to be connected,” referring to any possible motive for the incident.
“We’re going to be vigilant and continue to do what we do,” the paper’s publisher, Rufus M. Friday, said in its own report. “We’re not going to be deterred by this senseless act of vandalism.”
Reached for comment Tuesday, both Baniak and a representative for Friday referred TPM to Friday’s statement in the paper’s own report on the suspected shooting.
“It’s my understanding that our facilities folks will be meeting with the police again later this morning,” Baniak added.
The incident came on the heels of then-congressional candidate Greg Gianforte of Montana allegedly bodyslamming Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs a a day before the state’s special election, earning himself a misdemeanor charge. Gianforte issued a vague apology to Jacobs on Thursday night, after he won the election.
On Friday, the Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) showed off his own bullet hole ridden target sheet to a press scrum, reportedly joking, “I’m gonna carry this around in case I see any reporters.”
On Saturday evening, a newspaper printing plant in London, Kentucky was temporarily evacuated after an unidentified person called in a bomb threat, demanding $25,000.
On Monday, Lexington police arrested 19-year-old Layne Chadwell for allegedly firing at random at several locations in Lexington, WKYT reported. The Herald-Leader reported that it was unclear whether Chadwell was involved in the suspected shooting of its office.
