Maryland shooter blocked newspaper exit doors
Authorities charge man, 38, with five counts of murder
BALTIMORE — The 38-year-old Maryland man who police said gunned down five employees at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis used a pump-action shotgun purchased legally and had barricaded the exit doors as part of a planned attack.
Jarrod Ramos made his first appearance in court Friday since being charged with first-degree murder in the targeted attack, staring impassively at the camera as he appeared over video link from one of the county’s jails.
Years after unsuccessfully suing the newspaper for defamation, Ramos blasted through the doors of the newspaper Thursday afternoon and shot up the newsroom before hiding under a desk, according to charging documents.
Authorities charged Ramos in the killings of editorial page editor Gerald Fischman, 61; editor and columnist Rob Hiaasen, 59, who had previously worked in South Florida; sports writer John McNamara, 56; sales assistant Rebecca Smith, 34; and Wendi Winters, 65, a community correspondent. Two staffers, Janel Cooley and Rachael Pacella, were injured. They have been released from the
hospital.
The murder charges carry a maximum penalty of life without parole. Maryland has no death penalty.
District Court Judge Thomas Pryal ordered that Ramos continue to be held without bail Friday. “There is a certain likelihood you are a danger,” Pryal said.
Anne Arundel County public defender, William Davis, represented Ramos at the bail hearing. He argued against holding the hearing and asked for a gag order in the case. The judge denied both motions.
Anne Arundel County police Chief Timothy Altomare said police found evidence of planning at the gunman’s apartment. Altomare said items were recovered there that connected Ramos to the attack.
Ramos was armed with a 12-gauge shotgun that he had purchased about a year ago. Police would not say how much ammunition he used, or how much he carried with him. “The fellow was there to kill as many people as possible,” Altomare said.
Ramos did not cooperate with police, and as a check of a fingerprint database ran slowly, Altomare said authorities used facial recognition technology, drawing from the Maryland Image Repository System, to identify Ramos. Altomare said reports that Ramos had mutilated his fingertips were false.
“It’s really hard to interrogate somebody when you don’t know who they are, when you don’t know where they come from... that’s why we askedfor help,” Altomare said.
Once Ramos was identified, Altomare said detectives soon discovered his history of a feud with the newspaper that began with a column written several years ago. With that information, Altomare said police could rule out terrorism as a motive, though he noted: “It certainly is causing terror.” Altomare said police had no warning that Ramos might carry out an attack on the newspaper. While Ramos posted on his Twitter account before the shooting, it wasn’t seen by police or reported to them. Police only learned of the tweet later.
Outside of the courthouse, Adams elaborated on Ramos’ actions at the newspaper office.
Adams said that Ramos led a “coordinated attack” that included barricading the back door of the building.
“There were two entrances to the offices in which this attack occurred. The rear door was barricaded. Mr. Ramos then, as I told the judge, entered the frontdoor and made his way through the office where he was shooting victims as he walked through the office,” he said.
Adams told The Baltimore Sun that he intends to prosecute the case himself.
Windows at thegunman’s basement apartment were boarded up by early Friday morning and a large dent marked the blue door. Ramos’ name was scrawled on a green slip of paper on the mailbox for 402B.
Residents of the building declined to comment and a property manager called Laurel Police to help clear news reporters from the apartment complex’s parking lot about 9:30 a.m., just as more reporters arrived on the scene.
To help piece together the details of how the rampage unfolded Thursday, police used surveillance video from the office. The attack began about 2:40 p.m. EDT when 170 people were working inside the 5,000-square-foot office complex. The Capital Gazette, owned by The Baltimore Sun, a Tronc newspaper, is one of 30 tenants in the building and one of a handful on the first floor.
Reporters who witnessed the shooting said they dived under their desks for protection. Some said they tried not to make any sounds, while others screamed or pleaded for help on Twitter. Police said they arrived within 60 seconds, and surrounded the shooter.
Photographer Paul Gillespie said, “I kept thinking, ‘I can’t believe I’m going to die. I can’t believe this.’ ”
He made it out alive, describing running during a lull in the gunfire and jumping over his co-worker’s body and escaping the building. Gillespie said he made it to a nearby bank and screamed for people to call police.
Ramos’ grudge with the Capital Gazette began in July 2011 after the paper ran a column about him harassing a former high school classmate on social media and the criminal case against him. He sued the columnist and the organization’s editor and publisher for damaging his reputation, but a court ruled in the newspaper’s favor and Ramos ultimately lost an appeal.
In 2013, representatives from The Capital met with Anne Arundel County police to discuss Ramos’ actions, according to a police report released Friday.
“Ramos makes mention of blood in the water, journalist hell, hit man, open season, glad there won’t be murderous rampage, murder career and paper,” the police report states.
The officer meeting with The Capital at the time wrote he “did not believe that Mr. Ramos was a threat to employees for The Capital.”
The police conclusion “was based on the contact they have had with him, as only on Twitter and civil court filings. He has not attempted to enter the Capital Newspaper building or sent direct threatening correspondence,” Officer Michael Praley wrote. “As of this writing the Capital will not pursue any charges. It was described as putting a stick in a beehive which the Capital Newspaper representatives do not wish to do.”
Altomare said in 2013, The Capital and its lawyers had talked with police about whether they should press misdemeanor charges against Ramos. But they decided doing so might just further antagonize him and worsen the situation.
President Donald Trump addressed Thursday’s “horrific shooting.”
“This attack shocked the conscience of our nation and filled our hearts with grief,” Trump said from the White House Friday. “Journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their jobs.