Victims identified in Maryland newspaper shooting

A man armed with smoke grenades and a shotgun attacked journalists at a newspaper in Maryland’s capital Thursday, killing five people before police quickly stormed the building and arrested him, police and witnesses said.

The suspect was identified by law enforcement sources as 38-year-old Jarrod W. Ramos.

The Baltimore Sun reported Ramos had a long-running feud with The Capital, and in 2012 had filed a lawsuit against the paper and a journalist for defamation regarding an article reporting on a criminal harassment charge against him.

Ramos reportedly mutilated his fingers in what investigators think was an effort to prevent him from being easily identified. An official who spoke on condition of anonymity said investigators identified the man using facial recognition technology.

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.

Among the victims was veteran journalist and columnist Rob Hiaasen, 59, brother of novelist Carl Hiaasen. Carl Hiaasen said he was “devastated and heartsick” at the loss of his brother, “one of the most gentle and funny people I’ve ever known.”

Three other journalists and a staffer were killed: editorial page editor Gerald Fischman; special publications editor Wendi Winters; writer John McNamara, and sales assistant Rebecca Smith.

Kampf told a news conference that police recovered what they believe to be an explosive device from the building housing The Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis.

He said the device “was taken care of,” but didn’t elaborate.

The shooting prompted New York City police to immediately tighten security at news organizations in the nation’s media capital.

Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism and Intelligence John Miller said the deployments were not based on any specific threat information, but out of an abundance of caution.

A reporter at The Capital Gazette tweeted that a single gunman fired into The Capital Gazette newsroom and shot multiple employees. Phil Davis, who covers courts and crime for the newspaper, tweeted that the shooter fired through the glass door to the office.

“A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead,” he tweeted. Officials later confirmed that five people were killed.

Davis added, “There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk and then hear the gunman reload.”

Anne Arundel police spokesman Lt. Ryan Frashure said officers had raced to the scene, arriving in 60 seconds, and engaged the shooter.

People could be seen leaving the building with their hands up, as police urged them to depart through a parking lot and officers converged.

In an interview with The Capital Gazette’s online site, Davis said it “was like a war zone” inside the newspaper’s offices — a situation that would be “hard to describe for a while.”

“I’m a police reporter. I write about this stuff — not necessarily to this extent, but shootings and death — all the time,” he said. “But as much as I’m going to try to articulate how traumatizing it is to be hiding under your desk, you don’t know until you’re there and you feel helpless.”

Davis told the paper he and others were still hiding under their desks when the shooter stopped firing. “I don’t know why. I don’t know why he stopped,” he said.

A gas station employee near the shooting scene described a flood of police activity in the area as he sat tight inside his still-open workplace.

In a phone interview, Carlos Wallace, who works just down the street from the newspaper’s offices, said law enforcement vehicles and ambulances had raced toward the scene with sirens blaring.

“The road is blocked off real good. It’s like dozens of dozens of emergency vehicles, police cars of all types, explosive vehicles, battering ram vehicles, all kinds of stuff,” Wallace said at about 3:50 p.m. Thursday.

The newspaper is part of Capital Gazette Communications, which also publishes the Maryland Gazette and CapitalGazette.com. It is part of the Baltimore Sun Media Group.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued a statement saying he was “absolutely devastated” at the tragedy. President Donald Trump tweeted in the wake of the shooting that his “thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.”

Prior to departing Wisconsin, I was briefed on the shooting at Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland. 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.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2018

A recent study found that Americans own 40 percent of the world’s firearms despite accounting for only four percent of the global population.

Of the 857 million guns owned by civilians, 393 million are in the United States — more than all of the firearms held by ordinary citizens in the other top 25 countries combined, according to the Small Arms Survey.

Advocates of tougher gun laws have stepped up their efforts in the wake of numerous school shootings this year, including the killing of 17 people at a Parkland, Florida high school in February and the killing of 10 people at a Texas high school in May.