Gunman Kills Five People At Capital Gazette Newspaper In Maryland
A gunman described by police as a white male in his late 30’s has killed five people at the Capital Gazette building in Maryland. The gunman, who is believed to have acted alone, entered the building and began looking for his victims in a targeted attack.
According to sources, the shooter – Jarrod Ramos – used smoke grenades and fired a shotgun at his victims. In total, five people have been killed and two more are injured. Ramos has had a long-running dispute with Capital Gazette, filing a defamation case against the paper over a story they published in 2011. Police Chief William Kramf, of Anne Arundel County, said “This was a targeted attack on the Capital Gazette. This person was prepared today to come in, this person was prepared to shoot people. His intent was to cause harm.”
The victims have been identified as Rob Hiaasen, 59, Wendi Winters, 65, Gerald Fischman, 61, John McNamara, 56, and Rebecca Smith, 34.
Spokesman for Anne Arundel County police, Lieutenant Ryan Frashure, said that police recovered what seems to be an explosive device from the building, and also found flashbangs and smoke grenades in Ramos’ backpack. Ramos allegedly mutilated his fingertips to make it more difficult for authorities to identify him. Approximately 170 people were evacuated from the building, which has since been secured by police. Ramos was taken into custody without any shots fired by officers.
Phil Davis, a crime reporter for the paper, was inside the building at the time of the shooting. In an interview Davis said the building was “like a war zone.”
“I’m a police reporter. I write about this stuff — not necessarily to this extent, but shootings and death — all the time,” Davis said in the interview. “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 added that himself and other employees were hiding under their desks when Ramos stopped shooting. It was at this time that police arrived and surrounded Ramos.
A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead.
— Phil Davis (@PhilDavis_CG) June 28, 2018
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.
— Phil Davis (@PhilDavis_CG) June 28, 2018
There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload
— Phil Davis (@PhilDavis_CG) June 28, 2018
Police also went to the offices of the Baltimore Sun, which owns the Capital Gazette, as a precaution. NYPD also said it beefed up security at New York-based news organizations as a precaution; NYPD spokesman Andrew Lava said “We’re deploying units from our Critical Response Command to news outlets throughout New York City. There is no active threat at this time.”
