Harassing posts lead to debate on policing web
Md. attacker tweeted against paper for years
The police knew about his threats. The newspaper he assailed considered him a danger. And in public tweets, the man accused of killing five at a Maryland newspaper last week broadcast his hate with a stream of invective.
The failure to stop Jarrod Ramos, charged with five counts of first-degree murder in Thursday’s deadly rampage at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, shows the blind spots that foil law enforcement and internet companies — even as the social media gusher puts the warning signs in plain sight.
“The terror and violence that we saw at Capital Gazette is another horrible example why our laws need to be updated to reflect modern-day crime,” said Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., who has been pushing for years to bolster federal online harassment laws and increase cyber training for police departments around the country.
Ramos, 38, posted harassing social media messages that alarmed editors at the paper and led police to investigate but fell short of leading authorities to pursue charges or Twitter to ban him.
Ramos’ grudge with the Capital Gazette dated back to a July 2011 article chronicling his guilty plea for harassing a former high school classmate by email, phone and Facebook.
In one haunting February 2015 tweet, Ramos’ account said, “I’ll enjoy seeing @capgaznews cease publication, but it would be nicer to see Hartley and Marquardt cease breathing.”
Since Nov. 20, 2011, Ramos mentioned in tweets @ethartley or his last name 107 times, Marquardt by name or as “Evil Tom” nearly 100 times, and @capgaznews more than 50 times, according to a USA TODAY analysis.
The account regularly attacked the newspaper and its journalists, including a reference to the deadly shooting at the French paper Charlie Hebdo in 2015.
Shortly before the shooting Thursday, it posted a message: “F--- you, leave me alone.”