29 June 2018•Update: 29 June 2018
By Safvan Allahverdi
WASHINGTON
The suspect in the shooting deaths of five people at the newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, carried out the attack with a pump-action shotgun and barricaded the back entrance to prevent people from escaping, according to officials.
He "was there to kill as many people as he could get," Anne Arundel County Police Chief Timothy Altomare said at a news conference Friday.
In a court hearing Friday, a judge ruled that suspect Jarrod Ramos, 38, be held without bond after he was charged with five counts of first-degree murder in the mass shooting Thursday at the Capital Gazette newspaper.
Describing the killings as a "brutal series of attacks on innocent victims," the Anne Arundel County State's Attorney Wes Adams said he told the judge that Ramos is a flight risk and danger to the community.
Altomare said police investigated online threats t Ramos made against the paper in 2013 because the paper published an article about a criminal harassment charge against him in 2012.
Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh also said Friday that Ramos had a “long-standing grievance” because of the newspaper's coverage and had filed lawsuits. He, however, “lost them all.”
Ramos, on Thursday afternoon entered the building with the shotgun and walked through its lower level, where the newspaper is located.
He hid under a desk after shooting through a glass door and opening fire inside the newsroom. But officers quickly found and arrested him without exchanging gunfire, officials said at a news conference.
The newspaper on its website said the victims were all its employees. Victims Gerald Fischman and Rob Hiaasen were editors. John McNamara was a reporter, Smith was a sales assistant and Winters worked for special publications.
Officials said two people who were injured were hurt by broken glass.
The Capital Gazette published its Friday's paper with a front page bearing the photos of the five employees who were killed.
"Today, we are speechless. This page is intentionally left blank today to commemorate victims of Thursday's shootings at our office," according to the opinion page which was left mostly blank.
President Donald Trump on Friday also addressed the shooting at the start of a White House tax event.
"This attack shocked the conscience of our nation and filled our hearts with grief. Journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their job," Trump said.
"We pledge our eternal support ... my government will not until we have done everything in our power to reduce violent crime and to protect innocent life," he added on his first on-camera response to the shooting.
Four of the victims were shot dead at the scene. A fifth person, who was shot in the upper body and arm, died at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Describing the killings as "targeted attack, Anne Arundel County Acting Police Chief Bill Krampf said Ramos had also mutilated his fingers, possibly in a bid to evade identification. However, they said he was identified by using facial recognition software.
During the attack, Phil Davis, a reporter for the Gazette, said on Twitter: “I’m a police reporter. I write about this stuff -- not necessarily to this extent, but shootings and death -- all the time,” Davis 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.”
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said he was “absolutely devastated to learn of this tragedy in Annapolis,” and ordered state flags to be lowered to half-staff until sunset Monday.
