Newspaper gunman worked methodically, blocked exit
was some kind of “lag” in getting results from the computer system used to analyze fingerprints. Police denied news reports that Ramos had mutilated his fingertips to thwart his identification.
Two officials told The Associated Press on Thursday night, based on preliminary information, that the gunman had damaged his fingerprints in what was believed to be an effort to make it harder to identify him. That information had been in a law enforcement document and was included in a briefing that one of the officials received.
The chief said the weapon was a 12-gauge shotgun, legally purchased about a year ago despite the harassment case in which Ramos pleaded guilty. He also carried smoke grenades, authorities said.
Ramos launched so many social media attacks about the paper and its writers that retired publisher Tom Marquardt said he called police in 2013, telling his wife at the time, “This guy could really hurt us.”
A police report on the 2013 investigation said a Capital Gazette attorney showed an officer tweets from Ramos in which Ramos “makes mention of blood in the water, journalist hell, hit man, open season, glad there won’t be murderous rampage, murder career.” The officer, Michael Praley, said in the report that he “did not believe that Mr. Ramos was a threat to employees” at the paper, noting that Ramos hadn’t tried to enter the building and hadn’t sent “direct, threatening correspondence.”
“As of this writing the Capital will not pursue any charges,” Praley wrote. “It was described as putting a stick in a beehive which the Capital Newspaper representatives do not wish to do.”
Later, in 2015, Ramos tweeted that he would like to see the paper stop publishing, but “it would be nicer” to see two of its journalists “cease breathing.”
The online grudge apparently “went dark” for a period until some new posts just before the killings, Altomare said. The chief said police were not aware of Ramos’ recent online activity until after the rampage, saying: “Should we have been? In a perfect world, sure, we should have been.”