		<div class="wpcnt">
			<div class="wpa">
				<span class="wpa-about">Advertisements</span>
				<div class="u top_amp">
							<amp-ad width="300" height="265"
		 type="pubmine"
		 data-siteid="109460728"
		 data-section="1">
		</amp-ad>
				</div>
			</div>
		</div>
<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#4b4444"><strong>Capital Gazette gunman Jarrod Ramos is found criminally responsible for the 2018 newsroom massacre that left five people dead after a jury swiftly rejected his insanity plea on Thursday</strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#4b4444"><strong>Prosecutors in Anne Arundel County are seek five life sentences without parole after Jarrod Ramos, 41, was found criminally responsible for the 2018 massacre </strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#4b4444"><strong>Prosecutors proved that based on his meticulous planning, Ramos understood the criminality of his actions and was not insane at the time of the attack </strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#4b4444"><strong>Ramos already pled guilty to all 23 counts against him in 2019, but was attempting to avoid jail time based on diminished mental capacity</strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#4b4444"><strong>Six survivors of the shooting testifying at Ramos&#8217; trial on described seeing colleagues shot to death, shotgun blasts and the sounds of shells reloading as they hid in the Capitol Gazette newsroom on June 18, 2018</strong></h2>



<h2 class="has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style="color:#4b4444"><strong>Assistant editor Rob Hiaasen, 59, was killed along with editorial page editor Gerald Fischman, 61, Staff writer John McNamara, 56, head of special publications Wendi Winters, 65, and sales assistant Rebecca Smith, 34 in the mass shooting</strong></h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Jarrod-Ramos-4.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-384589" width="548" height="516"/><figcaption><strong>A jury in Anne Arundel County Thursday found Jarrod Ramos [photo], criminally responsible for killing five people when he opened fire inside the Capital Gazette newsroom in June 2018 </strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>A man from Laurel, Maryland who <a href="https://konniemoments.com/2018/06/29/sources-name-suspect-in-annapolis-capital-shooting-as-jarrod-ramos-who-had-long-running-feud-with-paper-identify-victims/">shot dead several staffers at Capital Gazette</a> in Annapolis has been found criminally responsible for killing five people when he opened fire inside the newspaper&#8217;s newsroom in mid-2018. <br>A jury on Thursday found the gunman, 41-year-old Jarrod Ramos had the mental and emotional capacity to be held responsible for the mass shooting on June 28, 2018 in Annapolis, Maryland. <br>Ramos has been detained at the Anne Arundel County jail since the killings and faces life in prison. <br>Ramos&#8217; public defenders requested a sanity trial in an attempt to have him committed to a maximum-security psychiatric hospital instead of going to prison.<br><strong>Related Articles: </strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><a href="https://konniemoments.com/2018/06/29/sources-name-suspect-in-annapolis-capital-shooting-as-jarrod-ramos-who-had-long-running-feud-with-paper-identify-victims/"><img src="https://i2.wp.com/konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Five-casualties-of-theMaryland-newspaper-shooting.png?resize=174%2C131&;ssl=1" alt=""/></a><figcaption><a href="https://konniemoments.com/2018/06/29/sources-name-suspect-in-annapolis-capital-shooting-as-jarrod-ramos-who-had-long-running-feud-with-paper-identify-victims/">Sources identify suspect in Annapolis Capital shooting as 38-year-old Jarrod Ramos, who had long-running feud with paper his list of victims include 56-year-old veteran [&#8230;]</a></figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Jarrod-Ramos-6.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-384607" width="833" height="602"/><figcaption><strong>Jarrod Ramos was on surveillance camera stalking the Capitol Gazette building shooting staffers. Here he&#8217;s seen</strong> <strong>opening the door of the Capital Gazette office on June 28, 2018</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>His attorneys had argued that he could not be held criminally responsible for the mass shooting due to mental disorders which did not allow him the capacity to comprehend him crimes. <br>Countering, the Anne Arundel County State&#8217;s Attorney, Anne Colt Leitess, explained that Ramos&#8217; meticulously calculated actions proved that he knew and understood exactly what he was doing as well a the consequences of his actions. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img src="https://i1.wp.com/konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Jarrod-Ramos-1.png?resize=506%2C570&;ssl=1" alt="Jarrod Ramos 1" width="765" height="862"/><figcaption><strong>Jarrod Ramos has been found criminally responsible for the 2018 Capital Gazette newsroom shooting and faces life in prison</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>The calculating gunman chose the specific date for his mass shooting because there were supposed to be many people in the newsroom that day. <br>Ramos blocked the exits to trap his victims and set decoys for law enforcement to slow their response, called 911 once his killing spree was done, and made sure he was no longer armed and laid on the floor until police arrived so they wouldn’t shoot him. <br>Furthermore, Ramos also bought a lifetime membership to a chess club in the days leading up to the attack so he could play in prison. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-video wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-videopress wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe title="VideoPress Video Player" aria-label='VideoPress Video Player' width='620' height='348' src='https://videopress.com/embed/1dzpGuXQ?preloadContent=metadata&;hd=0&;cover=1' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen allow='clipboard-write'></iframe><script src='https://v0.wordpress.com/js/next/videopress-iframe.js?m=1674852142'></script>
</div><figcaption><strong>Maryland cops hunt for capital Gazette shooter, June 2018</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>Last week survivors of the mass shooting described the terror of hiding for their lives under desks in their newsroom. <br>Six people who were inside the Capital Gazette newsroom during the shooting were among the first called by prosecutors trying to prove to a jury that Ramos understood the criminality of his actions and was not insane at the time of the long-planned attack.<br>The sight of a shot colleague, the near miss of a shotgun blast, the passing flashlight at the end of the gunman&#8217;s weapon and the sounds of shells reloading were part of the survivors&#8217; accounts of the attack that lasted only minutes but left five dead. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Selene-San-Felice-left-and-Paul-W.-Gillespie-second-left-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-384605" width="839" height="500"/><figcaption>C<strong>apitol Gazette mass hooting survivors Selene San Felice, [left], and Paul W. Gillespie, [second left], testified at the murder trial of Jarrod Ramos on Thursday</strong></figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Greg-Nucifora-left-Selene-San-Felice-center-and-Paul-W.-Gillespie-right-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-384606" width="844" height="517"/><figcaption><strong>Survivors Greg Nucifora, [left], Selene San Felice and Paul W. Gillespie, [right], lights a candle before a moment of silence in 2018 to commemorate</strong> <strong>their slain co-workers</strong></figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Capitl-Gazette-staffer-flees-gunman-June-28-2018.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-384610" width="834" height="488"/><figcaption><strong>An employee is seen fleeing from the horrific attack by the deranged gunman</strong></figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Model-of-the-former-Capital-Gazette-newspaper-office-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-384613" width="837" height="536"/><figcaption>During the trial, a model of the former Capital Gazette newspaper office is displayed as survivors showed jurors where they were in the newsroom at the time of the attack</figcaption></figure>



<p>&#8216;I was waiting to die, and so I was praying,&#8217; said Selene San Felice, who was a reporter at the paper.<br>She recalled watching her colleague John McNamara get hit by a shotgun blast while she was hiding under a desk with intern Anthony Messenger. <br>McNamara was killed along with Wendi Winters, Rebecca Smith, Gerald Fischman and Rob Hiaasen. <br>&#8216;Once John got shot, I thought we were going to die,&#8217; Messenger testified.<br>Paul Gillespie, a photographer, said he heard shotgun pellets breeze by after Ramos fired at him, just before he ran out of the newsroom to safety.<br>Janel Cooley, an advertising sales representative, testified to hearing a loud explosion as Ramos blasted through the entrance, shaking the whole office.<br>Cooley testified to seeing Winters charge Ramos with a trash can in one hand and a recycling bin in the other before he shot her and kept moving through the newsroom.<br>&#8216;He was walking very purposefully, very methodically,&#8217; Cooley said.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Jarrod-Ramos-12-gauge-Mossberg-shotgun-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-384614" width="837" height="608"/><figcaption>Murder weapon: A photograph of the 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun authorities say was used by Jarrod Ramos in the mass shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper is shown in evidence</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Capital-Gazette-newspaper-during-a-mass-shooting-in-2018-are-shown-in-the-courtroom-in-June-2018-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-384615" width="837" height="613"/><figcaption><strong>Premeditation: Two devices used as door barricades recovered at the site of the Capital Gazette newspaper during a mass shooting in 2018 are shown in the courtroom in June </strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>Rachael Pacella, a reporter at the newspaper, described hiding under her desk at first, but as the gunshots moved closer she decided to run out a back door &#8211; which Ramos had blocked earlier with a device to trap employees inside. <br>She tripped, banged her head on a door and hid between file cabinets, where she could see the flashlight from Ramos´ shotgun just feet away as he passed.<br>Phil Davis, who was a reporter at the paper, described hearing Ramos reload near where he hid under a desk.<br>During the trial on Friday, a model of the former Capital Gazette newspaper office was also displayed as survivors showed jurors where they were in the newsroom at the time of the attack.<br>Prosecutors also called insurance agent Keith Cyphers, who worked across the hallway from the office, to testify, the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/crime/ac-cn-capital-gazette-shooting-trial-day-8-20210709-rkdaf6csc5fndl2aexlymlic2q-story.html">Capital Gazette </a>reported on Friday.<br>Cyphers recalled seeing Ramos enter the newsroom and called the police as the gunshots rang out. <br>Prosecutors played the audio from his 911 call in the courtroom on Friday.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Annapolis-city-officials-comfort-each-other-following-the-Capital-Gazette-shooting-in-June-2018-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-384616" width="840" height="543"/></figure>



<p>Anne Arundel County Police corporal Ryan McGeeney, one of the first officers to arrive at the scene and told the court Friday how he rushed through the lobby of the office building &#8216;where people were unaware of the horrors happening down the hallway,&#8217; the Capital Gazette reported.<br>He recalled crossing the lobby with four other officers and the chaos of shattered glass and a body &#8211; which is when he realized the 911 call for an active shooter had been real.<br>Responding officers were seen on bodycam footage entering a hallway filled with smoke &#8211; which Ramos&#8217; lawyers said was caused by a smoke grenade he detonated to deter cops. <br>In total, 16 witnesses were called before the jury on Friday, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/witnesses-take-the-stand-in-day-eight-of-the-capital-gazette-shooting-trial">WMAR </a>reported. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Five-vigil-candles-for-slaiin-staffers-of-Capital-Gazette-newspaper.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-384603" width="840" height="543"/><figcaption><strong>Images of five slain employees of the Capital Gazette newspaper adorn candles during a vigil across the street from where they were slain in the newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland in June 2018. Jarrod Ramos had pled guilty to the killings, but was hoping to avoid serving time with an insanity defense</strong></figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img src="https://i0.wp.com/konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Rob-Hiaasen-left-and-Gerald-Fischman-1.png?resize=620%2C332&;ssl=1" alt="Rob Hiaasen [left] and Gerald Fischman 1.png" width="844" height="452"/><figcaption><strong>Victims: [Left] Rob Hiaasen, 59, assistant editor and columnist, and [right] 61-year-old editorial page editor Gerald Fischman</strong></figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img src="https://i0.wp.com/konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/John-McNamara-left-Wendi-Winters-center-and-Rebecca-Smith-right-1.png?resize=620%2C257&;ssl=1" alt="John McNamara, [left], Wendi Winters, [center], and Rebecca Smith, [right] 1.png" width="845" height="351"/><figcaption><strong>Victims: [Left] Staff writer John McNamara, 56, [center], Wendi Winters, 65, community correspondent, head of special publications and [right] Rebecca Smith, 34, a sales assistant </strong></figcaption></figure>



<p>Ramos already pled guilty to all 23 counts against him in 2019, but was attempting to avoid jail time due to his mental health. The defense<br>The defense, which went first in presenting its case arguing that Jarrod Ramos is not criminally responsible — Maryland’s version of an insanity case. They had the burden of proof by a &#8216;preponderance of the evidence.&#8217; In essence trying to show that it was more likely than not that Ramos was not criminally responsible.<br>Several years before the deadly mass shooting Jarrod Ramos of Laurel, Maryland, repeatedly filed unsuccessful lawsuits and appeals against the paper and some of its workers. The defendant had a grievance with the paper after they wrote about a harassment case he was involved in. <br>The unsuccessful lawsuits went on for at least six years before the shooting that killed Fischman, Hiaasen, McNamara, Smith and Winters. In one court filing, Ramos wrote, “You’ve crippled my life for a year and now I am going to cripple your company forever.” <br>That presumed catalyst for his meltdown, the 2012 lawsuit, which alleged that the paper defamed him, was dismissed as groundless.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Dorothy-Lewis-1.jpg" alt="This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Dorothy-Lewis-1.jpg" width="588" height="708"/><figcaption><strong>The Ramos defense team Clinical psychiatrist Dr. Dorothy Lewis who as an expert witness for the defense famously determined that serial killer Ted Bundy was not psychotic, as he had been diagnosed by other psychiatrists; instead, based on his significant mood swings, they believed he suffered from bipolar disorder</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p><strong>Related Articles: </strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><a href="https://konniemoments.com/2019/10/28/maryland-man-who-shot-and-killed-five-staffers-at-capital-gazette-newspaper-pleads-guilty-to-five-counts-of-murder/"><img src="https://i1.wp.com/konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Jarrod-Ramos-2.jpg?resize=174%2C131&;ssl=1" alt=""/></a><figcaption><a href="https://konniemoments.com/2019/10/28/maryland-man-who-shot-and-killed-five-staffers-at-capital-gazette-newspaper-pleads-guilty-to-five-counts-of-murder/">Hearings commenced Monday to determine whether Jarrod Ramos, the gunman who killed five staffers at Capital Gazette newspapers in Baltimore, MD The hearings is to determine [&#8230;]</a></figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Anne-Colt-Leitess-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-384651" width="834" height="468"/><figcaption>Anne Arundel County State&#8217;s Attorney, Anne Colt Leitess successfully argued that Capitol gazette gunman Jarrod Ramos gunman who killed five was not insane, but was criminally responsible</figcaption></figure>



<p>Defense attorneys argued Ramos suffered from a paranoid delusion in which the newspaper and the courts conspired to block his efforts to restore his reputation after the publication of a 2011 article about him pleading guilty to a harassment charge against a former high school classmate. <br>His appeals failed. <br>Before the defense had rested its case on Thursday, Ramos&#8217; attorneys presented renowned psychiatrist Dr. Dorothy Lewis as a witness, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2021/07/08/capital-gazette-shooting-trial-day-7-jarrod-ramos/#.YOhH2rbn0gE.twitter">WJZ </a>reported.<br>Lewis testified that Ramos&#8217; cat was his only significant relationship and that he called the cat his &#8216;fur wife,&#8217; and that he had carried out the shooting when the cat died.<br>&#8216;I think it was that relationship that tied him a little bit to reality,&#8217; Dr. Lewis said.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Scene-of-chaos-after-Jarrod-Ramos-shot-and-killed-five-staffers-of-Capital-Gazette-newspaper-on-18-2018.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-384640"/><figcaption><strong>Shocked workers and law enforcement at the outside the office building after Jarrod Ramos shot and killed five staffers of Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, MD, on 18, 2018</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Annapolis-city-officials-comfort-each-other-following-the-Capital-Gazette-shooting-in-June-2018-1.jpg" alt="This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Annapolis-city-officials-comfort-each-other-following-the-Capital-Gazette-shooting-in-June-2018-1.jpg" width="838" height="542"/><figcaption><strong>it was a grim day as Annapolis city officials comfort each other at the press conference following the mass shooting at iconic local newspaper, The Capital Gazette, on June 18, 2018</strong></figcaption></figure>



<p><br>Lilly Price, a reporter for the Capital Gazette, tweeted that defense attorneys said Ramos &#8216;laid on the couch for two weeks with his cat without getting up and would pee in bottles.&#8217;<br>&#8216;Prosecutors, while questioning Lewis, presented an email Ramos sent his vet describing getting up from bed with the cat to brush his teeth and eat,&#8217; she tweeted.<br>Leitess said in her opening statement on Thursday that while Ramos has personality disorders like narcissism, he does not have serious mental illness that qualifies him to be found not criminally responsible for five murders. <br>&#8216;He has issues with his personality,&#8217; Leitess told the jury, according to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://wjla.com/news/local/prosecutor-newspaper-gunman-killed-5-in-revenge-for-article">WJLA</a>. <br>&#8216;They are things that make him eccentric or odd — not things that make him insane.&#8217; <br>She contends Ramos attacked the paper out of revenge for the article. </p>

Maryland Capital Gazette newspaper mass shooter Jarrod Ramos, 41, is found criminally responsible for the 2018 newsroom massacre that left five people dead, as prosecutors seek five life sentences without parole
