Gunman kills 5 in attack targeting Maryland newspaper
AThe shooting came amid months of verbal and online attacks on the "fake news media" from politicians and others from President Donald Trump on down. It prompted New York City police to immediately tighten security at news organizations in the nation's media capital.
Police in Annapolis said a white man in his late 30s was in custody after the rampage at The Capital Gazette. A law enforcement official said the suspect was identified as Jarrod W. Ramos. The official wasn't authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Acting Police Chief William Krampf of Anne Arundel County called it a targeted attack in which the gunman "looked for his victims."
"This person was prepared today to come in, this person was prepared to shoot people," Krampf said.
The dead included veteran journalist and columnist Rob Hiaasen, 59, brother of novelist Carl Hiaasen. Carl Hiaasen said he was "devastated and heartsick" at losing his brother, "one of the most gentle and funny people I've ever known." Also slain were editorial page editor Gerald Fischman; special publications editor Wendi Winters; writer John McNamara, and sales assistant Rebecca Smith.
Police said two others had minor injuries, and the newspaper later reported two employees were subsequently released from a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Krampf said the gunman was a Maryland resident, but didn't name him. Phil Davis, a reporter who covers courts and crime for the paper, tweeted that the gunman shot out the glass door to the office and fired into the newsroom, sending people scrambling under desks.
"There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload," he wrote.
Meanwhile, investigators said they would seek to learn more of the gunman's motives. "The shooter has not been very forthcoming, so we don't have any information yet on motive," Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh said.
In 2012, Ramos filed a defamation lawsuit against the paper, alleging he was harmed by an article about his conviction in a criminal harassment case a year earlier. The suit was dismissed by a judge who wrote Ramos hadn't shown "anything that was published about you is, in fact, false." An appeals court later upheld the dismissal.
The newspaper is part of Capital Gazette Communications, which also publishes the Maryland Gazette and CapitalGazette.com. It is owned by The Baltimore Sun. The Associated Press Media Editors have promised to help Capital Gazette journalists as they recover. An APME statement called on newspapers nationwide to help the paper and its journalists so they can continue to cover their community and fight for freedom of the press.
NNAPOLIS, Maryland -- A man armed with smoke grenades and a shotgun attacked a newspaper in Maryland's capital Thursday, killing four journalists and a staffer before police quickly stormed the building and arrested him, police and witnesses said.