5 people slain at Maryland newspaper; suspect in custody, officials say

BALTIMORE -- At least five people were killed and several others were "gravely injured" in a shooting Thursday afternoon at the Capital Gazette in Anne Arundel County in Maryland, authorities said.

Police said the suspect was a white man in his late 30s whose shotgun rampage at the Capital Gazette came after social media threats were directed at the newspaper.

A law enforcement official said the suspect has been identified as 38-year-old Jarrod W. Ramos. The official was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Authorities said the gunman entered the building in a targeted attack and "looked for his victims." He had smoke grenades and fired a shotgun at his victims, according to Anne Arundel County acting Police Chief William Krampf.

"This person was prepared today to come in, this person was prepared to shoot people. His intent was to cause harm," Krampf said.

In 2012, Ramos filed a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper and a columnist over a July 2011 story that covered a criminal harassment case against him.

He filed the suit against the columnist, Eric Hartley, naming Capital Gazette Communications and Thomas Marquardt, the newspaper's former editor and publisher, as defendants.

A Twitter page in Ramos' name Thursday featured Hartley's picture as its avatar, and a banner image included photographs of Marquardt and the newspaper company's former owner Philip Merrill.

The page's bio read: "Dear reader: I created this page to defend myself. Now I'm suing the s*** out of half of [Anne Arundel] County and making corpses of corrupt careers and corporate entities."

The account had been dormant since January 2016. Then at 2:37 p.m. Thursday -- moments before the Capital Gazette shooting -- the account posted a message that read: "F*** you, leave me alone."

The Capital Gazette is owned by The Baltimore Sun.

At a news conference late Thursday, Lt. Ryan Frashure of the Anne Arundel County Police read the names of the five people killed: Wendi Winters, the special publications editor; John McNamara, a writer; Gerald Fischman, an editorial page editor; Rebecca Smith, a sales assistant; and Rob Hiaasen, an assistant editor and columnist.

Anne Arundel County Police initially confirmed about 3:15 p.m. that they were responding to an "active shooter" at 888 Bestgate Road, where the newspaper's offices are located. Personnel with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded to the scene.

The attacker had mutilated his fingers in an apparent attempt to make it harder to identify him, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Phil Davis, a Capital Gazette crime reporter who was in the building at the time of the shooting, said multiple people were shot, as others -- himself included -- hid under their desks. He said there was a lone male gunman.

"Gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees. Can't say much more and don't want to declare anyone dead, but it's bad," Davis wrote on Twitter as he waited to be interviewed by police shortly after the shooting.

"There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload."

In a subsequent interview, Davis said it "was like a war zone" inside the newspaper's offices -- a situation that would be "hard to describe for a while."

Davis said he and others were still hiding under their desks when the shooter stopped firing.

Authorities said police arrived at the scene within a minute. "If they were not there as quickly as they were it could have been a lot worse," Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley said.

President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that he had been briefed on the shooting. "My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Thank you to all of the First Responders who are currently on the scene," Trump wrote.

Gov. Larry Hogan, on Twitter, wrote, "Absolutely devastated to learn of this tragedy in Annapolis."

Police in SWAT gear and with rifles had cordoned off the area around the newsroom.

Jimmy DeButts, an editor at the Capital Gazette, wrote on Twitter that he was "devastated and heartbroken." He said he could not speak about the shooting, but praised the work of his newspaper.

"There are no 40-hour weeks, no big paydays -- just a passion for telling stories from our community," DeButts wrote. "We keep doing more with less. We find ways to cover high school sports, breaking news, tax hikes, school budgets & local entertainment. 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."

He added, "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."

Hours after the shooting, Capital reporters promised to continue covering the story.

"I can tell you this," reporter Chase Cook tweeted. "We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow."

Information for this article was contributed by Brian Witte, Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo of The Associated Press; and by Kevin Rector, Scott Dance, Doug Donovan, Tim Prudente, Justin Fenton, Erin Cox, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Jessica Anderson, Talia Richman, Ian Duncan and Meredith Cohn of The Baltimore Sun.

A Section on 06/29/2018