Capital Gazette shooting

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Coordinates: 38°59'39"N 76°32'37"W

Date: June 28, 2018; ~2:34 p.m. (EDT)
Attack type: Mass shooting
Weapons: 12-gauge Mossberg 500 pump-action shotgun
Deaths: 5
Injured: 2
Perpetrator: Jarrod Ramos
Motive: Narcissistic injury, grudge against Capital Gazette for reporting negative information about him
Charges: Five counts of first-degree murder; one count of attempted first-degree murder; six counts of first-degree assault; 11 counts of firearm use in commission of a felony or violent crime

On June 28, 2018, a mass shooting occurred at the offices of The Capital, a newspaper serving Annapolis, Maryland, United States. The gunman, Jarrod Ramos, killed five employees with a shotgun and injured two others who were trying to escape. Ramos was arrested shortly thereafter. He pleaded guilty but not criminally responsible to 23 charges; in July 2021, a jury found him criminally responsible.

The Capital had published an article in 2011 about Ramos being put on probation for harassing an acquaintance from high school through social media and email. Ramos, angered by the article, brought a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper but a judge later dismissed the suit. Ramos is alleged to have sent enraged letters and messages to The Capital threatening to attack its newsroom and staff, but no legal action was taken after the threats were received.

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Victims

Five people were killed and two others were injured in the attack. Those killed were:

• Gerald Fischman, age 61, columnist and editorial page editor for The Capital
• Rob Hiaasen, age 59, assistant editor and weekend columnist for The Capital
• John McNamara, age 56, sports reporter for The Capital and editor and primary reporter for The Bowie Blade-News
• Rebecca Smith, age 34, sales assistant who just started working for Capital Gazette Communications
• Wendi Winters, age 65, community beat reporter and special publication editor for The Capital

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Capital Gazette shooting was one of two incidents in which multiple journalists were killed in the United States since the organization began compiling data in 1992. The other incident was the murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward during a live television interview in 2015.

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Wreath laying marks 5 years since Capital Gazette shootings

John Domen | jdomen@wtop.com
June 28, 2023, 2:26 PM

It’s been five years since a gunman opened fire inside the newsroom of the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland. ... It was a life-altering moment for numerous people, and at a Wednesday service honoring the five people who lost their lives, friends and relatives spoke about finding hope, happiness and love again, even as they continue to be haunted by what happened.

Five wreaths were laid next to the five pillars of the Guardians of the First Amendment monument that faces the water on Compromise Street in downtown Annapolis. The five pillars stand tall in honor of John McNamara, Wendi Winters, Rebecca Smith, Rob Hiaasen and Gerald Fischman.

The mother and granddaughter of Winters laid one wreath against a pillar. Another was laid by those who escaped a hail of bullets through the back door.

“I remember it every day. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about what happened to me and my co-workers,” said Paul Gillespie, a photographer who narrowly escaped the shooting and is one of the few who still works for the newspaper.

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John Domen
John started working at WTOP in 2016 after having grown up in Maryland listening to the station as a child. While he got his on-air start at small stations in Pennsylvania and Delaware, he's spent most of his career in the D.C. area, having been heard on several local stations before coming to WTOP.

jdomen@wtop.com