Jarrod W. Ramos, 38, was the gunman who opened fire at the newsroom in Annapolis at about 2.40pm today. He unsuccessfully sued the newspaper and had repeatedly contacted the publication via twitter. The gunman had a long-running grudge against the newspaper after they exposed him for Facebook stalking a woman.
Ramos, who lives in Laurel, Maryland, had refused to identify himself to authorities in the aftermath of the shooting.
Daily Mail reports:
A law enforcement official said he had to be identified using facial recognition technology after purposely damaging his fingerprints in what investigators believe was an attempt to prevent them from quickly identifying him. Acting police chief William Krampf later denied this.
There is no known motive at this stage but police said it was a targeted attack on the Capital Gazette and that he entered the building and ‘looked for his victims’. Police said he threw smoke grenades and fired a shotgun at his victims.
Police say newspaper had received threats on social media prior to the deadly shooting. Investigators are trying to determine whether the threats were connected to the suspect.
Ramos had unsuccessfully sued the newspaper and one of its former reporters in 2012 for defamation. A Twitter profile under his name includes tweets about criticizing the Gazette and details of the yearslong legal dispute.
OUR PREVIOUS REPORT ON THE SHOOTING:
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A lone shooter with a shotgun broke through windows at the Capital Gazette offices in Annapolis, Maryland shooting several employees. There are five dead and many injuries. It’s an active crime scene with bomb squads coming in to scan the building for explosives. The shooter had no identification in his possession and was described as a white male in his 20’s with a ponytail:
“WHITE MALE WITH A PONYTAIL”
SCANNER AUDIO: Anne Arundel County radio traffic during Capital Gazette shooting – approx. 2:50pm:
Officer 1: "All units, all units, limit your transmissions. Do we have any kind of intel on our shooter?”
Officer 2: "White male with a ponytail.”
Courtesy: @Broadcastify pic.twitter.com/lUrwtRvz43
— Kevin Lewis (@ABC7Kevin) June 28, 2018
There are no details on how the shooter surrendered but it’s being reported that the shooter was surrounded by police and was immediately taken into custody.
Motive is the big question now as the FBI moves to increase security at area news rooms. The manager of the building housing the newsroom says there was no security in the building. It is a soft target…
The police entered the Baltimore Sun newsroom to also bring in more security:
Daily Mail reports:
Phil Davis, a court and crime reporter for the Gazette, confirmed that multiple people had been shot. Davis said that a lone gunman had shot through the glass door of the offices and then opened fire on the newspaper employees.
INTERN ANTHONY MESSENGER TWEETED OUT FOR HELP:
‘A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead,’ he tweeted, while he said he was waiting to be interviewed by police.
There is no name yet on the suspect but we will be updating. Social media reports he’s not familiar to employees and is a white male in his 20’s.
The NYPD is moving personnel to major news outlets headquartered in New York City as a precaution, ABC News reports.
https://twitter.com/mgeorge4NY/status/101243383990863052