All Americans, liberals, conservatives alike, should have been outraged in recent days when police in central Kansas raided a rural newspaper’s newsroom, seizing computers, cellphones and a router. The newspaper owner’s home was also raided. The 98-year-old co-owner died several days later.

We believe this action, which has been widely condemned from sea to shining sea, struck at the heart of the First Amendment and freedom of the press.

The newspaper in question is the Marion County Record. The paper, according to Associated Press accounts, has developed a reputation for holding local officials’ feet to the fire.

AP reported that part of the debate centers around Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody’s reasons for the raid.

A warrant suggested that police were looking for evidence that the Record’s staff broke state laws against identity theft and computer crimes while verifying information about a local restaurant owner. But the police also seized the computer tower and personal cellphone belonging to a reporter who had investigated Cody’s background.

Some experts say the police chief, who is in his third month on the job, violated both state and federal laws.

The five-member Marion City Council is scheduled to have its first meeting since the raid this afternoon.

However, the panel has already said it will not comment on the matter.

This incident shakes the very foundation that freedom of the press is built on. Simply put, it cannot stand.

We hope the full measure of the law is brought into whatever resolution comes from this situation.