AP correspondents David Sharp, Michael Casey, reporter Patrick Whittle, photographer Robert Bukaty and video journalist Rodrique Ngowi leapt on an early, off-the-record source telling us that a seemingly low-level highway shooting with three injured was actually linked to another crime scene with four dead that had not been publicly reported yet, positioning AP to get ahead and stay ahead in a week of strong all-formats coverage.   

Michael Casey flagged news that three people had been injured in a shooting on a Maine highway. While at first it seemed like low-level gun violence, David Sharp in Portland contacted a law enforcement source who told him off the record that the shooting was actually linked to another crime scene where at least four people were killed — the nation’s latest mass shooting. 

AP had journalists on the ground in both towns before the news broke of a mass shooting, and everyone was filing all formats.