Police say gunman aimed to kill as many as he could
Man charged with 5 counts of murder in methodical shooting at Maryland newspaper
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The gunman accused of killing five people in a vendetta against a Maryland newspaper barricaded the rear exit to prevent anyone from escaping and methodically blasted his way through the newsroom with a pump-action shotgun, cutting down one victim trying to slip out the back, authorities said Friday.
“The fellow was there to kill as many people as he could,” Anne Arundel County Police Chief Timothy Altomare said as Jarrod W. Ramos, 38, was charged with five counts of murder in one of the deadliest attacks on journalists in U.S. history.
Three editors, a reporter and a sales assistant were killed in the Thursday afternoon rampage.
Ramos, a former information-technology worker for the federal government, had a long-held grudge against the Capital Gazette. He filed a defamation suit against the paper in 2012 after it ran an article about him pleading guilty to harassing a woman — the lawsuit was thrown out by a judge as groundless — and he repeatedly targeted staff members with menacing, profanitylaced tweets.
Police looked into the online threats in 2013, but the newspaper declined at the time to press charges for fear that doing so “would exacerbate an already flammable situation,” Altomare said. Also, the detective who investigated did not believe Ramos was a threat, according to a police report.
“There’s clearly a history there,” the police chief said.
Ramos, a clean-shaven figure with long hair past his shoulders, was denied bail after a brief court hearing in which he appeared by video, watching attentively but not speaking. Authorities said he was “unco-operative” with interrogators. He was placed on a suicide watch in jail. His public defenders had no comment outside court.
The first-degree murder charges carry a maximum penalty of life without parole. Maryland has no death penalty.