Capital Gazette reporter to Trump: 'Thanks for your prayers, but I couldn't give a f--- about them if there's nothing else'

Screenshot via CNN.com

• Capital Gazette staff writers Selene San Felice and Phil Davis gave a phone interview Thursday night on CNN after surviving a shooting in their newsroom earlier that day.
• Speaking about a tweeted condolence from President Donald Trump, San Felice said "thanks for your prayers, but I couldn't give a f--- about them if there's nothing else."
• A gunman killed five in the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, on Thursday afternoon, acting on what police say was a personal vendetta against the paper.

Two reporters from the Capital Gazette appeared on CNN Thursday night and responded to condolences after a shooting in their newsroom earlier that day.

"I heard President Trump sent his prayers," staff writer Selene San Felice said in a phone interview to host Anderson Cooper. "I'm not trying to make this political, but we need more than prayers."

Five people were killed and several others were "gravely injured" in the local paper's Annapolis, Maryland newsroom after a gunman opened fire, acting on what police said was a personal vendetta against the paper. 

San Felice, who said she covered the Pulse nightclub shootings as a student journalist in Florida, said she "appreciate[d] the prayers.

"I was praying the entire time I was under that desk," she said. "I want your prayers but I want something else."

Reporter Phil Davis, who was tweeting from under his desk in the newsroom during the attack, said he agreed with San Felice.

"If we're at a position in our society where all we can offer each other are prayers, where are we?" Davis said. "Where are we as a society when people die, and that's the end of that story."

San Felice continued, "I don't know what I want right now but I'm going to need more than a couple days of news coverage and some thoughts and prayers."

"Our whole lives have been shattered," San Felice said. "Thanks for your prayers, but I couldn't give a f--- about them if there's nothing else."

Trump, who has previously referred to the media as the "enemy of the people," tweeted condolences Thursday afternoon to the victims and their families.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also tweeted in support of the journalists and their families, condemning the attack "on innocent journalists doing their job."

The Capital Gazette published as normal Friday after reporters covered the shooting from a nearby parking garage. The issue's front page features the five journalists who were killed Thursday.

Hear more of the reporters' comments below: