Suspect in Maryland newsroom shooting identified! Jarrod Ramos armed with a shot gun and explosive devices killed five, left three others ‘gravely injured’ at Maryland’s Capital Gazette newsroom in ‘Targeted’ attack
A shooter described by witnesses as a ‘Ponytailed’ white male carrying a ‘long gun’ and explosive device shot at least five dead and left three people ‘gravely injured’ at Maryland’s Capital Gazette newsroom, earlier today
Police responded within 60 seconds to reports of an active shooter at the newsroom at about 2.40pm
The suspect, 38-year-old suspect, identified as Jarrod W. Ramos, was taken into custody following the shooting, even as he is refusing to identify himself to authorities
Police sources said the Ramos, a Maryland resident purposely damaged his fingertips so investigators couldn’t fingerprint him, but authorities used facial recognition software to identify the man,
Authorities said they recovered a long gun and bag containing stun grenades from the scene
The suspect allegedly has a minor criminal history
The suspect who police say lives 30 miles away in rural Maryland, had filed unsuccessfully filed a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper in 2012
Earlier on Thursday, he issued threats against the media house on social media, by noon made good his threat
He arrived at the Gazette building armed with a shotgun and stun grenades, shot his way through the front door, methodically picked out his targets before deliberately shooting each one down

Jarrod Ramos [photo], allegedly killed five people and critically injured three more after he opened fire with a shot gun inside Maryland’s Capital Gazette newsroom on Thursday afternoon
Five people are dead and many more injured after a lone shooter opened fire with a long gun inside Maryland’s Capital Gazette newsroom, Thursday afternoon.
Police responded within 60 seconds to reports of an active shooter at the newsroom in the 800 block of Bestgate Road, Annapolis, in Anne Arundel County, at around 2.40pm.
The daily newspaper which is owned by the Baltimore Sun Media Group serves the city Maryland’s capital city, Annapolis. Founded in 1884, it is a sister newspaper to the Maryland Gazette, one of the nation’s oldest newspapers.
The gunman was taken into custody, but police would not name the suspect.
The 38-year-old, suspect, identified as Jarrod W. Ramos was taken into custody following the shooting. He has not yet been charged.
The suspect who police say lives in Laural Maryland, had filed a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper in 2012, but apparently was unsuccessful. He had previously filed a defamation lawsuit against The Capital newspaper, which was dismissed in 2013.
The dismissal was upheld in 2015 by a Maryland appellate court.
Earlier Thursday, he issued threats against the media house on social media, by noon made good his threat.
He arrived at the Gazette building armed with a shotgun and stun grenades which he used to create a distraction.
After shooting his way through the front door, he methodically searched out his targets before deliberately shooting each one down
Police were executing search warrants at his home in Laurel, Maryland. Ramos is a former federal employee and Maryland native who graduated from Arundel High School.
Security agents converged on Maryland’s Capital Gazette building after five people were shot dead and many more injured by a lone shooter inside the newsroom on Thursday afternoon
The attacker reportedly had mutilated his fingers in an apparent attempt to make it harder to identify him, according to a law enforcement official, but investigators still managed to identify him, using facial recognition software. He apparently had a minor criminal history.
Police said a “long gun” was used in the incident, but did not specify which kind. They said officers did not exchange gunfire with the suspect, who was now being interrogated. They said officers had recovered what appeared to be an “explosive device,” and had “tactically secured” the building, located at 888 Bestgate Road. About 170 people were inside at the time of the shooting, police said.
Anne Arundel County, acting police chief William Kamph confirmed that five people died and at least three others were gravely injured in the attack.
Police responded within 60 seconds to reports of an active shooter at the newsroom in the 800 block of Bestgate Road, Annapolis, at around 2.40pm on Thursday
The suspect who is refusing to identify himself to authorities was described as a white male believed to aged 39.
NBC reported that the shooter had a ponytail and was wearing a black t-shirt, olive pants at the time, was reportedly under a desk when police found him and his weapon was located nearby.
Police say the shooter is still being interrogated and they don’t have a motive for the shooting. Police said he had purposely damaged his fingertips so investigators couldn’t fingerprint him.
Authorities said they recovered a long gun from the scene, as well as what they thought to be an explosive device. Authorities disposed of the device and do not believe there are any other explosives at the site.
Law enforcement and security agents including Police, ATV and the FBI shut down the surrounding streets near the newsroom
The lone gunman reportedly, shot through the glass door of the offices and then opened fire on the newspaper employees.
‘A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead,’ Gazette journalist E.B Furgurson tweeted, while he said he was waiting to be interviewed by police.

Anthony Messenger, tweeted there was an ‘active shooter 888 Bestgate please help us’
‘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.
‘There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk and then hear the gunman reload.’
Describing the moment as like being in ‘a war zone’, Davis said he and his colleagues were hiding under their desks, listening to the gunman firing and reloading until there was sudden silence.
‘I don’t know why he stopped,’ he said.
Moments later the police arrived and surrounded the shooter. Officers were able to take the suspect into custody with any gunfire being exchanged.
Special tactical police patrol outside building Thursday afternoon following the Gazette newsroom shooting
Jimmy DeButts, the editor of the newspaper’s website, tweeted in the hours after the shooting that he was ‘devastated, heartbroken and numb’.
‘I’m in no position to speak, just know @capgaznews reporters & editors give all they have every day. There are no 40 hour weeks, no big paydays – just a passion for telling stories from our community,’ he tweeted.
‘We keep doing more with less. We find ways to cover high school sports, breaking news, tax hikes, school budgets & local entertainment.
‘We are there in times of tragedy. We do our best to share the stories of people, those who make our community better. Please understand, we do all this to serve our community.
‘We try to expose corruption. We fight to get access to public records & bring to light the inner workings of government despite major hurdles put in our way. The reporters & editors put their all into finding the truth. That is our mission. Will always be.’
Police activity at the Maryland capital, Annapolis on Thursday after an active shooter situation is reported inside one of the nation’s oldest newsrooms
Police confirmed that the building was secure but would remain closed as crime scene investigators got to work.
Davis added in an interview, with the surrounding press outside the newspaper’s headquarters, that while he wrote about mass shootings as part of his crime beat, it was another thing to experience one first hand.
‘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.’
The shooting sparked a huge police response, with local departments joined by the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.


Jimmy DeButts, the editor of the newspaper’s website, tweeted in the hours after the shooting that he was ‘devastated, heartbroken and numb’
Police presence at parent company, the Baltimore Sun, newsrooms in the wake of the shooting
An intern with the Capital Gazette, Anthony Messenger, tweeted at 2.43pm there was an ‘active shooter 888 Bestgate please help us.’
Aerial footage shows people being led out of the building with their hands raised. About 170 people in all were evacuated from the building, police said. Medevac helicopters were also at the scene.
John McNamara, who has worked for the Gazette and is the editor of the Bowie Blade-News and the Crofton-West County Gazette, has been confirmed among the shooting victims. It is not clear whether he was injured or a fatality.
Gazette reporter Danielle Ohl added that her colleague Rachael Pacella was among the injured in hospital.
At least one injured victim is being treated at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said during a press conference he was ‘absolutely devastated to learn of this tragedy in Annapolis.
‘I am in contact with County Executive Steve Schuh, and @MDSP is on the scene assisting @AACOPD. Please, heed all warnings and stay away from the area. Praying for those at the scene and for our community.’
‘Your heart goes out to all the people that lost their lives. We have had several fatalities and we have had several people hospitalized.’
Staff are shepherded out of the buildings as police, ATV and the FBI along with seven other agencies responded to the threat
Emergency services personnel and vehicles respond to the shooter at the scene of the mass shooting in Annapolis Maryland on Thursday
As news of the Capital Gazette shooting broke on Thursday, many posters on Twitter noted that the tragedy comes just two days after conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos cheered the idea of journalists being shot by goon squads.
When asked to comment on two different stories being written by The Daily Beast and The Observer, the alt-right political rascal responded with the same one sentence:
‘I can’t wait for vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight.’
When asked by the Observer to elaborate about what had upset them about their story, about a popular GOP watering hole, Yiannopoulos replied that it was his ‘standard response to a request for comment’.
In response to his critics Yiannopoulos is quoted as responding to the day’s shooting, saying there was no evidence, as his critics said online, that he may have inspired the attack.
In a longer statement on his website, he said if anyone is to blame, it’s the two outlets that published his statements, which were meant to be private.
‘I sent a troll about ‘vigilante death squads’ as a *private* response to a few hostile journalists who were asking me for comment, basically as a way of saying, ‘F*** off.’ They then published it…
‘If there turns out to be any dimension to this crime related to my private, misreported remarks, the responsibility for that lies squarely and wholly with Will Sommer of the Beast and the Observer’s Davis Richardson for drumming up fake hysteria about a private joke, and with the verified liberals who pretended they thought I was serious,’ he said.
The 33-year-old Brit was forced out of his role as a senior editor at Breitbart in February 2017, after interviews surfaced of him expressing sympathy for paedophiles.
Since then he has self-published an autobiography titled ‘Dangerous’ which became an Amazon.com best seller. Simon & Schuster was originally supposed to release the book, but ended the business deal over the paedophile scandal.
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