Update: Capital Gazette Shooter Identified, Motive Known

Jarrod Warren Ramos, 38, was identified as the Capital Gazette shooter. He entered the building where the newspaper conducts business armed with smoke grenades and a shotgun. He shot through the door glass of the newsroom and then proceeded to kill 5 people. Three others were taken to the hospital. He has been charged with 5 counts of First Degree Murder.

Police found Ramos hiding under a desk in the building.

The grudge that killed five people

Ramos had filed a defamation suit against the newspaper in 2012 over a column detailing his guilty plea in a 2011 harassment case. In other words, Ramos had a grudge that went on for years. His Aunt stated that he had gradually slipped away from the family.

The 2011 case involved a woman who was “friended” on Facebook, and then Ramos went on to call her vulgar names and harass her.

The Baltimore Sun reported,

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.

A Twitter page in Ramos’ name on Thursday featured Hartley’s picture as its avatar, and a banner image included photographs of Marquardt and The Capital’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 AA 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 shooting — the account posted a message that read: “F— you, leave me alone.”

Here is the actual column that sparked the lawsuit:

Actual print edition from when the Capital Gazette wrote about Jarrod Ramos harassing a woman on Facebook; Ramos is today’s suspect in the mass shooting at the newspaper pic.twitter.com/4aZitMSI3B

— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) June 29, 2018

Ramos posted this on his Twitter account in 2013:

“Think a credible newspaper could beat me to it? Here’s to exposing cowardly liars everywhere I can. Come and get me. pic.twitter.com/7p3mEGSSI5

— Jarrod W. Ramos (@EricHartleyFrnd) June 3, 2013”

That account has been suspended. Yesterday, his twisted mind finally snapped.

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

The Capital Gazette

The staff at Capital Gazette put out a newspaper on Friday anyway, placing the names of their five deceased colleagues on the cover page. The thing that most criminal/mentally ill types don’t understand is that their actions can have the result of making people more determined than ever.

The  five people killed were: Gerald Fischman, 61, editorial page editor; Rob Hiaasen, 59, an assistant editor; John McNamara, 56, a staff writer; Rebecca Smith, 34, a sales assistant; and Wendi Winters, 65, who worked in special publications.

Phil Davis, a reporter for the Capital Gazette, tweeted the court sheet for Ramos:

I can’t sleep, so I’ll do the only thing I can and report.

Jarrod Ramos, 38, of Laurel, was charged with five counts of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 5 Capital Gazette staffers

He will have a Bail review tomorrow at the Annapolis District Courthouse at 10:30 a.m. pic.twitter.com/B3KaZIQJQc

— Phil Davis (@PhilDavis_CG) June 29, 2018