Gazette shooter had history of problems with newspaper

Ramos, 38, appeared by video link from jail and did not speak during the proceedings.

An incensed Ramos then shifted his attention to The Capital Gazette and lodged a defamation suit against the paper for besmirching him.

He routinely harassed the paper’s journalists and police said staff had received death threats on social media before the shooting. Prosecutors said Ramos barricaded a back door to prevent people from fleeing.

Ramos allegedly used a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and was carrying smoke grenades during the attack.

Killed in the attack were editor and columnist Rob Hiaasen, 59; Wendi Winters, 65, a community correspondent who headed special publications; editorial page editor Gerald Fischman, 61; editor and sports writer John McNamara, 56; and Rebecca Smith, 34, a sales assistant.

One law enforcement source told CBS News the suspect is a male in his 20s who had no identification on him. Carl Hiaasen said he was “devastated and heartsick” at the loss of his brother, “one of the most gentle and amusing people I’ve ever known”.

“It was described as putting a stick in a beehive which the Capital Newspaper representatives do not wish to do”. “This page is intentionally left blank today to commemorate victims of Thursday’s shootings at our office”.

“The fella was there to kill as many people as he could”, Chief Altomare said. “He wrote a lot of warm pieces”, Altomare said, emphasizing that “all of them were consummate professionals, and although on occasion we might disagree, they always tried to get both sides of the story out”. He loved their frequent discussions about local politics even though they often disagreed.

As soon as McCarthy heard the news about the shooting at the Capital Gazette, he “knew immediately that it was Jarrod Ramos”, he said.

Trump has had a hostile relationship with the press since long before he took office, popularizing the term “fake news” and repeatedly denouncing journalists as “the enemy of the American people”. It outlined Ramos’ alleged erratic behavior, including emails he allegedly sent, telling McCarthy’s client, “Go hang yourself”, “You’re going to need a restraining order now”, and “You can’t make me stop”. But the chief said police were not aware of Ramos’ recent online activity until after the rampage, saying: “Should we have been?” Hartley and Marquardt do not now work for the paper and were not present at the time of the mass shooting. As the case moved through Maryland courts, Ramos wrote on Twitter he was “suing” half of the county and “making corpses of corrupt careers and corporate entities”.

Ramos had accused one of the Capital Gazette’s newspapers, The Capital, of defamation for reporting on his guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge of harassing a female acquaintance online.

Alexander told the Baltimore Sun that she felt called to set up the page after the shooting. “I don’t know why, but flight won”. Police say they are a questioning the suspect, a white man in his late 30s, following Thursday’s attack on The Capital Gazette in Annapolis. He will face either a preliminary court hearing or grand jury indictment within the next 30 days.

House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Anne Arundel, whose district includes Annapolis, stood outside his office, several feet from the memorial, and spoke emotionally about those killed. “It was in shattered pieces all on the carpet and this guy was holding what looked like a big shotgun and moving across the entrance of the Capital Gazette office pointing the gun deeper into the office like he was targeting people”, he told CNN affiliate WJLA.