MURDER USA: Shooting in Annapolis Gazette newsroom resulted in five dead, shotgun suspect in custody

FIVE DEAD – John McNamara, Bowie/Crofton/West County
Rob Hiaasen, Assistant Editor/News
Wendi Winters, Writer
Gerald Fischman
Rebecca Smith, newly hired reporter 

 

Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh says there are five dead at a 5:38 pm press conference, he said that police were on the scene within sixty seconds.

Governor Hogan Lowers Maryland Flag to Honor Victims of Annapolis Shooting

ANNAPOLIS, MD– Governor Larry Hogan today released the following statement ordering Maryland flags to be lowered to half-staff to honor the victims of the shooting at the offices of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis on June 28:

“With the lowering of the Maryland flag, we honor the dedicated journalists of our hometown newspaper in our state’s capital. To the family, friends, and colleagues at the Capital Gazette and its parent company, the Baltimore Sun, you have the deepest sympathies of a state in mourning,” said Governor Hogan. “There is no amount of clarity that will ever explain or nullify the pain that comes with losing so many lives for so little reason; journalism is a noble profession upon which our democracy depends, and we will fight to defend it.”

The flags are lowered to honor the following Capital Gazette staff members: Gerald Fischman, Robert Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith, and Wendi Winters.

The governor has the power to lower the Maryland flag at his discretion. The flags will remain lowered until sunset on Monday, July 2.

MARYLAND GOVERNOR LARRY HOGAN tweeted: Absolutely devastated to learn of this tragedy in Annapolis. I am in contact with County Executive Steve Schuh, and @MDSP is on the scene assisting @AACOPD. Please, heed all warnings and stay away from the area. Praying for those at the scene and for our community. There were 170 people in the office building that housed the newspaper office were evacuated.

The suspect in the Capital Gazette shooting is Jarrod W. Ramos, a man with a longstanding dispute with the newspaper, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation.

From Twitter page for Jarrod W. Ramos: Dear reader: I created this page to defend myself. Now I’m suing the shit out of half of AA County and making corpses of corrupt careers and corporate entities.

Maryland Court records show (see below) that in 2012, Ramos filed a defamation lawsuit against the paper and a columnist over a July 2011 article that covered a criminal harassment charge against him.

He brought the suit against then-columnist Eric Hartley, naming Capital Gazette Communications and Thomas Marquardt, the paper’s former editor and publisher, as defendants. 

From The Baltimore Sun: Marquardt said he called the Anne Arundel County police about Ramos in 2013, but nothing came of it. He consulted the paper’s lawyers about filing a restraining order, but decided against it.

“I remember telling our attorneys, ‘This is a guy who is going to come in and shoot us,’ ” he said.

Ramos’ aunt Vielka Ramos, 59, said she couldn’t believe he was the suspected gunman. She said her nephew had a good childhood, growing up in Severn, and attended Arundel High School.

“He was very intelligent. He would try to communicate with people but he was a loner,” she said.

After his grandmother died several years ago, she said, he stopped attending family gatherings. She had not talked to him in several years, the aunt said.

“He was distant from the family. He just wasn’t close to anybody,” she said.

In the 2011 column about the harassment charge, Hartley identified Jarrod Ramos as a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employee with no previous criminal record and a degree in computer engineering.

The harassment case centered on an online relationship Ramos tried to kindle with a former high school classmate. Hartley’s column said Ramos sent a friend request on Facebook to the woman, and the experience turned into a “yearlong nightmare.” Ramos allegedly wrote the woman and said she was the only person who ever said hello to him or was nice to him in school.  MORE

 

 

Eric Hartley is an editor for the Virginia Pilot and was named in the lawsuit Ramos brought against the Capital Gazette where he formerly worked.

Jarrod W. Ramos, of 402 Armstrong Court, Laurel, Md., filed a tort action in Prince Georges County Circuit Court against three persons:

From Annapolis Gazette staffer Jimmy Debutts on Twitter:

“Devastated & heartbroken. Numb. Please stop asking for information/interviews. I’m in no position to speak, just know @capgaznews reporters & editors give all they have every day. There are no 40 hour weeks, no big paydays – just a passion for telling stories from our community.”

“We are there in times of tragedy. We do our best to share the stories of people, those who make our community better. Please understand, we do all this to serve our community.”

“We try to expose corruption. We fight to get access to public records & bring to light the inner workings of government despite major hurdles put in our way. The reporters & editors put their all into finding the truth. That is our mission. Will always be.”

“We keep doing more with less. We find ways to cover high school sports, breaking news, tax hikes, school budgets & local entertainment.”

MURDER USA: Shooting in Annapolis Gazette newsroom resulted in multiple fatalities; shotgun suspect in custody; police find explosive device; suspect removed his fingerprints to prevent identification.

A reporter evacuated from the building has tweeted that a single shooter entered the newsroom and shot several people, who are dead, and he will send more tweets as he can while he waits to be interviewed by police.

ANNAPOLIS, MD. – Several people are reported to have been shot dead by a gunman armed with a shotgun and ABC7 reports that a suspect in custody. The fatal shooting at the Annapolis Gazette newspaper newsroom was confirmed by Anne Arundel County Sheriff Ron Bateman inside the building.

“I don’t have many details right now. My colleagues Phil Davis, Chase Cook, Anthony Messenger, Rick Hutzell and Selene San Felice are ok. Rachael Pacella is in the hospital with an injury.” Said Danielle Ohl on Twitter. Ohl was on vacation.

Intern at newspaper tweeted to please help us, there is a gunman in here. The staff of the newspaper is being removed in single file with their hands over their heads.

A reporter evacuated from the building has tweeted that a single shooter entered the newsroom and shot several people, who are dead, and he will send more tweets as he can while he waits to be interviewed by police.

Fox News reports that the gunman shot through a glass door in the office.

“There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you are under your desk and then hear the gunman reload” – Annapolis Gazette reporter Phil Davis tweeted from inside the newsroom.

Joshua McKerrow, Capitol Gazette Photojournalist put this photo on his Twitter PAUpage.

“Massive police response to shooting in my newsroom in Annapolis,” posted Joshua McKerrow on Twitter. “I am safe. Was not there. On my way to scene.”

JOSHUA MCKERROW ON TWITTER: Chase Cook, Pat Ferguson, Paul Gillespie, Phil Davis, Selene San Felice, Anthony Messenger all ok.

Police have just released the information that there may be more shooters and perhaps bombs as they sweep the building after the apprehension of a suspect – which is a routine tactic in the case of a workplace shooting.

PAUL GILLESPIE tweeted: “I am okay physically, so far, mentally I am a mess. I was inside. I am lucky to be alive. Please pray for my coworkers who were not as lucky as I was. We lost some truly great people today. I am in shock trying to process this horrible situation. Thanks for all the kind thoughts.”

The newspaper moved to the present offices on Bestgate Road in Annapolis, Md., in 2014.