Maryland man pleads guilty to Capital Gazette attack that killed 5
The man who blasted his way into the Capital Gazette newsroom more than a year ago, armed with a shotgun, smoke bombs and a device that blocked his victims from fleeing, pleaded guilty Monday to an attack that left five people dead and a close-knit community shaken.
Now, however, a jury must decide whether he is criminally responsible for his actions.
Jarrod Ramos, 39, of Laurel, responded to questions from Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Laura Ripken who later accepted the plea. When Ripken asked if he is in fact guilty of the June 2018 attack, he responded, “Yes, I am,” calmly and clearly with his arms folded behind his back. He wore a green jail jumpsuit, had a scraggly beard with his hair tied in a ponytail.
Ramos pleaded guilty to all 23 counts against him.
The plea comes just a week before a two-part trial was scheduled to begin that would determine whether Ramos was guilty, and then whether he is criminally responsible for his actions. With his guilt now determined, a jury will be tasked with deciding whether Ramos was mentally fit under the law to be held responsible for the mass shooting.
Ramos has pleaded not criminally responsible – Maryland’s version of the insanity plea – while prosecutors say a state mental health examiner has found he was legally sane at the time of the crime.
Potential jurors still must appear in court Wednesday for jury selection for the trial’s second phase to decide whether Ramos will be confined to a state prison or committed indefinitely to a state psychiatric facility.
Ramos pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder for fatally shooting Rob Hiaasen, Gerald
Fischman, John Mcnamara and Wendi Winters, who died at the scene, and Rebecca Smith, who died at the hospital later in surgery.
Six other employees inside the newsroom survived either by fleeing or hiding from Ramos.
“It seemed like he was clearing the room of people, shooting them as he saw,” according to testimony photographer Paul Gillespie would have given. The statement, and other details, were included in prosecutors’ prepared statement of facts that were read out loud by Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess.