ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - The Latest on the shootings targeting Maryland’s Capital Gazette newspaper (all times local):
8:15 p.m.
Hundreds of people have gathered in the shadow of the Maryland State House for a candlelight march in memory of five slain newspaper employees.
The mood was somber Friday as Capital Gazette reporter Phil Davis read aloud the names of his five slain co-workers before those gathers began marching through downtown Annapolis.
Some in the crowd carried signs and banners that said “#AnnapolisStrong.”
Melissa Wilson and her husband, Benjamin Wilson, brought their children to the vigil. Melissa Wilson’s employer has offices in the same building as the newspaper and has co-workers who were there when the gunman opened fire. She said many Annapolis residents have a “one degree of separation” connection with at least one of the five paper employees who were fatally shot Thursday.
“It’s not something you can ignore when it’s in your backyard,” she said.
___
7:15 p.m.
The former editor of the Maryland newspaper where five staffers were shot to death says he became increasingly alarmed five years ago when the suspect in the slayings began targeting him and others at the newspaper with angry messages on social media.
Tom Marquardt said he called police about Jarrod Ramos in 2013, but they said the messages were not clear-cut threats. Marquardt said he talked with the newspaper’s lawyers about seeking a restraining order against Ramos, but decided against it because he and others thought it could provoke Ramos to do something worse.
“We decided to take the course of laying low,” he said.
For more than two years, Ramos “went silent,” Marquardt said.
“This led us to believe that he had moved on, but for whatever reason, he decided to resurrect his issue with The Capital yesterday,” Marquardt said. “We don’t know why.”
___
6:35 p.m.
Dozens of mourners have gathered at a Maryland church to grieve and pay tribute to five slain newspaper employees, including a member of the church’s congregation.
The Rev. Fred Muir’s voice cracked when he described the mounting dread he had felt as it became clear Wendi Winters didn’t survive Thursday’s shooting at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis.
The 65-year-old Winters was a special publications editor and a mother of four.
Muir described her as a beloved “pillar of her community.”
Some of those attending the vigil at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis on Friday gasped when the Rev. John Crestwell noted that Winters had participated in a training session at the church three weeks ago on how to respond to an active shooter.
Crestwell said he was sure that Winters “did not cower in fear.” He said she “died a hero and probably saved more lives.”
___
6:25 p.m.
A police detective who several years ago investigated the man accused of fatally shooting five people this week at a Maryland newspaper said at the time that he did not think the man posed a threat to the paper’s employees.
Anne Arundel County Police said Friday that the detective had been assigned to investigate threatening comments Jarrod W. Ramos made online in 2013.
A police report from 2013 that authorities released Friday describes a conference call between the detective, an attorney for the publishing company, a former correspondent and the paper’s editor.
The detective said he told the other participants he didn’t think Ramos was a threat, based partly on the fact that he had not tried to enter the newspaper building and hadn’t sent “direct threatening correspondence.” The report also says Ramos’ contact with employees had been limited to Twitter and civil court filings.
The report says the newspaper had decided not to pursue any charges because doing so would be like “putting a stick in a beehive.”
___
6:10 p.m.
The Chicago-based publishing company for The Capital Gazette says it has established a fund to provide “relief and long-term recovery support” to the staff and families of victims at a Maryland newspaper where a shooting left five people dead.
Tronc Inc. said in a statement Friday that it had set up The Capital Gazette Families Fund for funeral expenses, trauma counseling, medical expenses not covered by insurance and other services.
The statement notes the Michael and Jacky Ferro Family Foundation will match up to $1 million in donations.
Tronc CEO Justin Dearborn also said in the statement that while Thursday’s attack appeared to specifically target the Capital Gazette, the company would be “enhancing security for all employees across the organization.”
Tronc Inc. publishes the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers and digital news sites in various markets.
Prosecutors say 38-year-old Jarrod W. Ramos opened fire Thursday in the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland.
He’s charged with five counts of first-degree murder.
(this item has been edited to correct the name of the publishing company, Tronc Inc.)
____
3:30 p.m.
The suspect in the shooting that left five people dead at a Maryland newspaper has been put on suicide watch.
A judge was told about the watch during a bond hearing Friday for 38-year-old Jarrod W. Ramos.
Judge Thomas Pryal also was given details about the suspect. The 5-foot-10 Ramos is single, with no children. He has lived in Maryland most of his life, including for the past 17 years in an apartment in Laurel, Maryland.
Pryal determined Ramos was still a danger and ordered him to remain in jail.
___
1 p.m.
President Donald Trump has offered a statement of support for journalists after a gunman fatally shot five people at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland.
He said Friday at the White House that “journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their jobs.”
Trump routinely calls the reporters who cover him “fake news” and “liars” and labels them “enemies of the people.”
A gunman shot his way into the newsroom of the Capital Gazette on Thursday, leaving five people dead.
Authorities and court records show the suspect had a well-documented history of harassing the paper’s journalists.
Trump said he is thinking of the survivors and the families of the “horrific, horrible” murders.
____
12:10 p.m.
A prosecutor says the shooter who opened fire at a Maryland newspaper had an escape plan he never implemented.
The suspect was captured by police while hiding under a desk at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis.
Prosecutor Wes Adams did not give any details about the escape plan. He said Friday that there were two entrances to the newspaper’s office. He says 38-year-old Jarrod W. Ramos entered through the front door on Thursday and “worked his way through the office.” He says Ramos barricaded the exit door so employees couldn’t escape, and that one of the five people who were killed was shot while trying to escape out that exit.
A judge ordered Ramos to remain detained during a court hearing Friday. Judge Thomas Pryal said found a likelihood that Ramos is a danger.
Ramos appeared at the hearing via video feed. He appeared to watch attentively during the hearing but never spoke. He was represented by public defender William Davis.
He is charged with five counts of first-degree murder.
___
11:45 a.m.
Authorities say the Maryland newspaper targeted in a shooting attack that left five people dead didn’t want to press charges in an earlier case.
Police Chief Timothy Altomare said at a news conference Friday that the Capital Gazette didn’t press charges over social media threats the shooting suspect had made against the newspaper in 2013.
Authorities have charged Jarrod W. Ramos with five counts of first-degree murder in the killings inside Maryland’s Capital Gazette office on Thursday.
Altomare said the shooter intended to “kill as many people as he could kill.”
___
11:30 a.m.
Authorities say the suspect in the deadly shooting at a Maryland newspaper used a pump-action shotgun in the attack at the Capital Gazette newspaper that left five people dead.
Police Chief Timothy Altomare also said at a news conference Friday that it is “absolutely untrue” that suspect Jarrod W. Ramos mutilated his fingertips.
Altomare also said that employees Rachel Pacella and Janet Cooley had been treated at a hospital and released after being injured during Thursday’s attack.
___
10 a.m.
The city of Annapolis is planning a vigil for the victims of a mass shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper.
The city announced on social media Friday that the vigil would begin at 8 p.m. at a public square near the Capitol, followed by a march to a dock for a service by the water.
The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland announced that the city’s houses of worship had planned a prayer vigil at 7 p.m. Friday at a mall across the street from the shooting site. All are welcome.
On Saturday, the 5:30 p.m. Eucharist at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in downtown will be offered for the victims.
___
9:30 a.m.
A Maryland newspaper attacked by a gunman has kept its promise to put out the next day’s paper, despite the shooting deaths of five people in its newsroom.
Hours after a gunman blasted his way inside The Capital Gazette on Thursday, the surviving staff tweeted out their defiance: “Tomorrow, this Capital page will return to its steady purpose of offering readers informed opinion about the world around them. But today, we are speechless.”
Friday morning’s edition featured in-depth coverage of the shooting and obituaries of the five people killed. Each victim’s photo appeared below the masthead.
And below the main shooting story were the staples of a community newspaper: a glance at the day’s weather and a teaser to a national story inside: “Trump, Putin: The two leaders will meet in Finland in July.”
__
9 a.m.
Court documents say a gunman who fatally shot five people at a Maryland newspaper tried to hide under a desk after the attack until police arrived.
A statement of probable cause obtained Friday by The Associated Press says surveillance video captured Thursday’s events at the Capital Gazette. It says Jarrod Ramos entered the newspaper’s office around 2:30 p.m.
The statement says Ramos used a “long gun firearm” and shot out the business doors, then shot people he encountered inside, killing five.
The statement says Ramos then “attempted to conceal himself under a desk” until police arrived and located him.
Ramos was in custody Friday and scheduled for a bond hearing at 10:30 a.m.
A spokeswoman for the Office of the Public Defender said the Anne Arundel office would be representing Ramos. She declined comment.
___
5:50 a.m.
Court records filed Friday show Jarrod W. Ramos has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder in the killings inside Maryland’s Capital Gazette office.
The online records do not list an attorney for Ramos, who is scheduled for a bail hearing 10:30 a.m. Friday in Annapolis.
Authorities say Ramos opened fire inside the newspaper office Thursday, killing five and injuring two others. He had a long, acrimonious history with the newspaper, including a lawsuit and years of harassment of its journalists.
___
12: 30 a.m.
Police say a man firing a shotgun killed four journalists and a staffer at Maryland’s capital newspaper before officers quickly arrived and took him into custody.
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.
Acting Police Chief William Krampf of Anne Arundel County says it was a targeted attack in which the gunman “looked for his victims.”
Journalists described how they scrambled under desks and sought to hide during a few minutes of terror. They recounted hearing the gunman’s footsteps as he moved about the newsroom, firing his weapon.
The attack came amid months of verbal and online attacks on the “fake news media” from politicians and others from President Donald Trump on down.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.