I covered my first national breaking news story this weekend when Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was shot along with 19 others in Tucson, Arizona. I received a call on Saturday from my editor and had to drop everything I was doing – as a reporter you’re always on-call.

We had about 30 minutes to get a story up on the web as many of the major news outlets were already spouting the news. I worked the national angle as my editor worked the local angle from New Jersey. It’s one thing when you’re a reporter on deadline calling an institution for information, but it’s another ball game when you’re one of hundreds trying to obtain the same information. I hit so many dead ends trying to confirm simple facts. Phones went unanswered, lines were busy or redirected, and many contacts were just unreachable. Regardless of what the wires and the networks were publishing, I was under strict orders — all my information had to be from a primary source. Statements had to come from the agency that issued them and were not to be copied from other news. As frustrating and meticulous as the process proved to be, it paid off, as many media outlets reported incorrect information.

This was big, and I knew I couldn’t afford to come up empty handed. It was a lot of call, call, and call again. I exhausted every possible venue of information; looking up possible neighbors, friends or relations, old companies, workers, nearby stores as potential witnesses, fellow politicians. It was a mad dash to the finish and I can say I’ve never been more nervous or excited about a story.

But in the blur of breaking news, you’re so caught up in getting the facts and getting the story, you don’t always take a step back to think about what really happened. As a reporter it’s easy to get detached from the subject, but in this case, it was hard to believe the facts that I was finding out about the shooting. It was whirlwind of an experience. And my thoughts and prayers go out to the victim’s of the Arizona shooting.

Advertisement