ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) The gunman accused of killing five people in a vendetta against a Maryland newspaper barricaded the rear exit to prevent anyone from escaping and blasted his way through the newsroom with a pump-action shotgun, cutting down one victim trying to slip out the back, authorities said Friday.
The fellow was there to kill as many people as he could, Anne Arundel County Police Chief Timothy Altomare said after Jarrod W. Ramos, 38, was charged with five counts of murder in one of the deadliest attacks on journalists in U.S. history.
Ramos long-held grudge against the Capital Gazette included a string of angry online messages and a failed defamation lawsuit over a column about him pleading guilty to harassing a woman. Police looked into the online threats in 2013, but the paper declined to press charges for fear of inflaming the situation, Altomare said.
Theres clearly a history there, the police chief said.
Ramos was denied bail Friday after a brief court hearing in which he appeared by video, watching attentively but not speaking. Authorities said he was uncooperative with interrogators.
His public defenders had no comment outside court.
Three editors, a reporter and a sales assistant were killed in the Thursday afternoon rampage.
The killings initially stirred fears that the recent political attacks on the fake news media had exploded into violence, and police tightened security at news organizations in New York and other places.
But by all accounts, Ramos had a specific, longstanding grievance against the paper.
At the White House, President Donald Trump, who routinely calls reporters liars and enemies of the people, said: Journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their jobs.
Prosecutor Wes Adams said Ramos carefully planned the attack, barricading the back door and using a tactical approach in hunting down and shooting the innocent people.
Adams said the gunman, who was captured hiding under a desk and did not exchange fire with police, also had an escape plan, but the prosecutor would not elaborate.
The attack began with a shotgun blast that shattered the glass entrance to the open newsroom. Journalists crawled under desks and sought other hiding places, describing agonizing minutes of terror as they heard the gunmans footsteps and the repeated blasts of the weapon.
Some 300 local, state and federal officers converged on the scene and within two minutes police had begun to corner Ramos, a rapid response that without question saved lives, Altomare said.
The police chief referred to Ramos as the bad guy, refusing to utter his name because he doesnt deserve for us to talk about him for one more second.
Ramos was identified quickly with the help of facial recognition technology because of a lag in running his fingerprints, the chief said. Police denied news reports that Ramos had mutilated his fingertips to avoid identification.
