A day after the horrifying June 28 mass shooting at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, details are beginning to emerge about the alleged shooter.
Jarrod Ramos, 38, was charged with five counts of first-degree murder after being arrested at the scene of the shooting. He allegedly walked into the Gazette’s office with a pump-action shotgun and opened fire on the paper’s employees. Five people were killed and two were injured in the attack.
Ramos had a long-standing feud with the paper after it reported on the criminal harassment case against him in July 2011. In 2012, Ramos filed a defamation lawsuit against then-columnist Eric Hartley and the paper’s former editor, Thomas Marquardt.
The case was thrown out by a judge.
“I was seriously concerned he would threaten us with physical violence,” Marquardt told The Baltimore Sun. “I even told my wife, ‘We have to be concerned. This guy could really hurt us.’”
Ramos had a Twitter page in his name with Hartley’s face as the avatar. The banner image featured Marquart and the paper’s former owner, Philip Merrill. Minutes before the shooting, Ramos tweeted, “Fuck you, leave me alone.”
The attack incited passionate responses on social media. For many, it was hard to separate Ramos’ actions from the anti-press rhetoric of President Trump, who has repeatedly called the news media the “enemy of the American people” and has threatened to revoke the freedom of the press.
Journalist Madi Alexander has started a GoFundMe to support the shooting victims and their families.
The shooting in Annapolis may not be arbitrary. The shooter had a defamation case against the newspaper in 2012. But the lesson stands: STOP demonizing reporters. We are not a banana republic.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) June 29, 2018
The shooting today in the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland cannot reasonably be separated from the President’s mission to villainize the press as “the enemy of the American people.”
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) June 28, 2018
Maybe you’re not directly responsible for the #Annapolis shooting but when your fanbase wears a shirt like this, and you constantly vilify the media you are sitting in the getaway car. pic.twitter.com/BKdBh5RTp6
— Dan Regan (@Social_Mime) June 28, 2018
Good morning. This needs to be said.
1) There is no apparent link between Trump’s attacks on media and the Annapolis shooting.
2) If you think that makes his words any less reprehensible, you are part of the problem. His language is utterly inexcusable. Period.
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) June 29, 2018
Trump called journalists “enemies of the State”
Milo Yiannopoulos: “I can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning down journalists on sight” responding to the Annapolis shooting: “I regret nothing I said…”
Both have blood on their hands#Annapolis #AnnapolisShooting
— Darrell Dass (@DarrellDass) June 28, 2018
Conservative pundit Sean Hannity received a backlash on Twitter after making the specious argument that Congresswoman Maxine Waters was somehow responsible for the shooting.
Donald Trump could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and Sean Hannity would blame Maxine Waters for it.
— John Iadarola (@johniadarola) June 29, 2018
Sean Hannity always blasts instantly “politicizing” shootings, but he sure as hell rushed to blame Annapolis on Maxine Waters. He instinctively scrambled to protect Trump without any facts. Because he knows his beloved President calls the press “enemy of the people” all the time.
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) June 28, 2018
Sean Hannity is right…
I can’t believe Maxine Waters called the media the enemy of America…
Oh that was Trump.
But she did say journalists should be shot…
Oh that was Milo.
What she did say was hold public officials accountable.
And Sean Hannity is an idiot.
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) June 29, 2018
The Daily Beast stood up for journalists everywhere by tweeting a quote from Capital Gazette survivor Selene San Felice.
Love this.
So much.#CapitalGazette survivors Selene San Felice and Phil Davis spoke to Anderson Cooper just hours after the deadly shooting in their Annapolis newsroom. They made one thing clear: https://t.co/LWbvyIxqjw pic.twitter.com/klGoRW1I6I— Holly Figueroa O’Reilly BWCS (@AynRandPaulRyan) June 29, 2018
Gun control advocates pushed for stricter gun laws in the shooting’s aftermath.
I’m deeply saddened by the shooting at #CapitalGazette in Annapolis & horrified that journalists were attacked like this. Praying for all victims and their loved ones. #Enough is enough. Congress must pass commonsense gun legislation to prevent further tragedy.
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) June 28, 2018
As we wait for details on the Annapolis shooting, let me remind you all that it’s been 133 days since the Parkland Massacre & the Federal Government has yet to change anything or have a hearing on gun control.
Instead they just had a hearing on Clinton’s emails.#CapitalGazette
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) June 28, 2018
This is not a political statement but a humanitarian one. The Annapolis mass shooting is an absolute tragedy and if you care about the situation at all you will push for gun control to prevent the next one.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) June 28, 2018
People who knew the victims spoke out on their behalf.
John McNamara, who was killed today in the Annapolis shooting, was one of the first five people I met in DC sports media. Relentlessly kind from Day One. Incredibly understated. So humble. Loved his job. This is heartbreaking.
— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) June 29, 2018
We’ve just found out that one of the victims of the Annapolis shooting was a neighbor of my family’s. What a terrible way to enter Shabbat. May it be a weekend of peace and comfort for all. Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem. שבת שלום.
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) June 29, 2018
He bickers without shooting anyone for 7 years. But now the climate is of a US president calling journalists “enemies of the people” and agitators publicly urging assassination. Context is king. But beyond that, two of my friends are dead in Annapolis. And you come with this? https://t.co/09Gb3xxOzu
— David Simon (@AoDespair) June 29, 2018
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
Words can not express the sadness that we feel with the loss of 5 lives in the Annapolis Gazette shooting! John McNamara was a friend, Husband to Andrea, and a wonderful Journalist. What is it going to take to STOP these senseless killings? Prayers to the victims and families.
— Johnny Holliday (@hollidaykid) June 29, 2018
Like most other mass shooters, Ramos has a history of harassing and abusing women. In 2011, a female former classmate of Ramos filed a restraining order against him for sending abusive emails. “I tried to slowly back away from it, and he just started getting angry and vulgar to the point I had to tell him to stop,” she told the judge.
An email Ramos sent her in April 2010 said, “Have another drink and go hang yourself, you cowardly little lush. Don’t contact you again? I don’t give a [expletive]. [Expletive] you.”
Naturally the man who went on a shooting spree in Annapolis has a history of harassing women. https://t.co/PWb3uKfGGD
— TakedownMRAs (@TakedownMRAs) June 29, 2018
Woman who was stalked, harassed, sued, and scared away to another state by suspect in fatal shooting of 5 at Capital Gazette in Annapolis told me he became, for no obvious reason, “fixated” with her..caused her to move 3x, changed her name, and now sleeps with a gun.
— Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) June 29, 2018
The #CapitalGazette killer targeted the paper for covering the case he lost for social media stalking a former classmate. He harassed her and she lost her job. His death threats filled Twitter for years.@jack, time to fix the rampant toxic misogyny here.https://t.co/uQWKGru1hz
— Karen DaltonBeninato (@kbeninato) June 29, 2018
