Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty Images, Marion County Police Department
An entire small-town Kansas police department raided the offices of a local newspaper on Friday, seizing a slew of critical material in an unprecedented move that has now left the outlet paralyzed.
The Marion Police Department, which includes five officers and two sheriff’s deputies, conducted three raids on the Marion County Record and its employees on Friday in an ongoing investigation. The raids—which occurred at the newspaper’s office, the home of its publisher Eric Meyer, and one of its reporters—resulted in the seizure of computers, cell phones, and other reporting materials.
Meyer revealed in the Record’s article about the raid that the newspaper, which has been in operation for decades, now does not have the reporting and publishing materials necessary to print their next edition. The publisher also revealed that the outlet has plans to file a federal lawsuit against the City of Marion and those involved in the search.