Jarrod Warren Ramos

Jarrod Warren Ramos was born on December 21, 1979, in Laurel, Maryland. He later attended the University of Maryland, College Park. Public records and court filings indicate that Ramos lived much of his adult life in relative isolation and had limited sustained personal relationships. Family members stated that they had been estranged from him for several years prior to the 2018 shooting.

Ramos had repeated interactions with the legal system before the attack. In 2009, a former high school acquaintance obtained peace orders against him, followed by criminal harassment charges, after reporting fear that Ramos might cause serious harm. In 2011, Ramos pleaded guilty to criminal harassment for repeatedly contacting the same individual through social media and email. As a result, he was placed on probation. That case became central to his later fixation.

In 2011, The Capital, a newspaper serving Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, published an article reporting on Ramos’s guilty plea and probation. Ramos responded by filing a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper in 2012, alleging that the article had harmed his reputation. The case was dismissed in 2015 after multiple appeals, with the court ruling that the reporting was based on public records and was factually accurate.

Following the dismissal of his lawsuit, Ramos continued to send hostile communications directed at the newspaper, its staff, its former attorney, and judges involved in his case. Former editors later stated that Ramos’s behavior caused concern, and law enforcement was contacted about his conduct, though no charges resulted from those reports. Court filings later revealed that Ramos had consulted multiple mental health professionals over many years and had a documented pattern of grievances and threatening behavior.

Ramos was legally permitted to purchase firearms and acquired the shotgun used in the attack within the 18 months preceding the shooting. In the period leading up to June 2018, he prepared for an act of violence that he later admitted was intended as retaliation against the newspaper and its employees.

On June 28, 2018, shortly after 2:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, Jarrod Ramos arrived at the offices of The Capital newspaper at 888 Bestgate Road in Parole, an unincorporated area of Anne Arundel County near Annapolis, Maryland. The building housed Capital Gazette Communications, which published The Capital and other regional newspapers.

Ramos barricaded a rear exit using a Barracuda Intruder Defense system device and positioned another similar device near a second exit. He then entered the newsroom armed with a left-handed 12-gauge Mossberg 590A1L pump-action shotgun. He also carried a backpack containing smoke bombs and other incendiary devices, though these were not deployed during the attack.

At approximately 2:30 p.m., Ramos fired through a glass door and opened fire inside the newsroom. Employees attempted to flee or take cover as he moved through the office. During the attack, reporter Wendi Winters confronted Ramos, using objects from the office to distract him, allowing several colleagues time to escape or hide. She was fatally shot during the encounter.

The five people killed were Gerald Fischman, age 61, editorial page editor and columnist; Rob Hiaasen, age 59, assistant editor and columnist; John McNamara, age 56, sports reporter and editor of the Bowie Blade-News; Rebecca Smith, age 34, a sales assistant in her first weeks of employment; and Wendi Winters, age 65, a community reporter and editor. Two additional individuals were injured while attempting to escape.

Anne Arundel County police received emergency calls at approximately 2:34 p.m. Officers arrived within about one minute of dispatch. Ramos was found hiding under a desk and was taken into custody without further resistance. Surveillance footage from inside the newsroom confirmed his identity as the sole shooter.

On July 20, 2018, prosecutors indicted Ramos on 23 counts, including five counts of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, and multiple firearm-related offenses. He was held without bail and placed on suicide watch. Ramos initially pleaded not guilty, later entering a plea of guilty but not criminally responsible by reason of insanity.

After extensive delays related to evidence volume, judicial reassignment, and the COVID-19 pandemic, a jury trial was held in 2021 to determine criminal responsibility. Expert testimony was presented by both the defense and prosecution regarding Ramos’s mental health. In July 2021, the jury rejected his insanity defense and found him criminally responsible for the murders.

On September 28, 2021, Jarrod Ramos was sentenced to five life sentences plus an additional 345 years in prison. He is incarcerated at the North Branch Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland, and is not eligible for parole.

The shooting remains the deadliest workplace mass shooting in Maryland history and one of the deadliest attacks on journalists in the United States.