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ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The shooting at the Capital Gazette hit home for many who live and work in Annapolis. Mayor Gavin Buckley spoke with FOX 5's Anne Cutler Friday and told her that he knows many of the reporters and staff by their first name.

"It's a terrible day and probably the saddest day in Annapolis since I can remember. We're all still reeling from it and none of us expected something like this to happen," Buckley said.

Buckley said he's been in the newspaper's newsroom many times. "There would be nowhere for people to hide and they would have been very vulnerable," he said. "We're just horrified at what they must have had to go through."

Buckley said he personally knows many of the journalists including Phil Davis, a courts and crime reporter for the paper. Davis tweeted that the gunman shot out the glass door to the office and fired into the newsroom, sending people scrambling under desks. He said that Davis gave him the motivation to seek office in 2017.

Buckley also said that he had spoken to the editor of the Capital Gazette, Rick Hutzell, prior to the shooting. Buckley said Hutzell was away when attack happened. "He was away. He never goes away, he works so hard," Buckley said. "It was just lucky for him that he was in Ocean City and that must have been a long drive for him to come back here and face what he had to face."

He commended the journalists at the paper. "I can't imagine what it's like but I have to commend these guys for their dedication. Journalists don't make a lot of money in small towns and they do it because they just love journalism," Buckley said. "Who would expect that that would be in your job training. You're trying to be a teacher - you think you've got to worry about someone coming in the classroom. You're trying to be a journalist - you've got to worry about someone coming into your newsroom."

"I don't know what's happening to our society. We need to reset and do something about it," Buckley said.