Maryland shooting: Defiant Capital Gazette reporters vow to publish paper after horrific killing of five colleagues

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Chloe Chaplain29 June 2018

Defiant reporters at the Annapolis newspaper where a gunman slaughtered five members of staff have vowed to publish a paper in a spectacular show of defiance just hours after the attack.

Five journalists were killed as their colleagues cowered, “helpless”, under their desks during the shooting.

Journalists were seen comparing notes as they were being evacuated from the building, dedicated to reporting the story despite the trauma.

And several have taken to Twitter to say they plan to publish a Friday edition.

"I can tell you this: We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow," reporter Chase Cook wrote on Twitter a few hours after the shooting.

“Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow,” the Capital Gazette Twitter page wrote, before sharing an image of the front page paying tribute to the victims.

Journalists from around the world were quick to pledge their support and resources to the paper.

New York Times reporter Katie Rosman replied to say: “I’m available all night tonight to make calls, send emails, I’ll help on any story you need.”

Dedicated: Reporters working on the edition in the wake of the shooting
AFP/Getty Images

She was followed by scores of people from across the US, Canada and Europe who offered solidarity.

They were also flooded with messages of support, with people writing that they were “sorry for the attacks against your profession… You are appreciated”.

“Thank you, on behalf of all Americans. Thank you for speaking and writing the truth in a time of great adversity,” wrote one person.

Another tweeted: “All of us in Baltimore are thinking about you and the entire Capital Gazette family. You are showing us the way under the most difficult circumstances.”

Acting police chief William Krampf told a news conference that Capital Gazette assistant editor Rob Hiaasen, 59, was among the victims.

Wendy Winters, 65, Rebecca Smith, 34, Gerald Fischman, 61, and John McNamara were also killed, he said. Smith was a sales assistant and the others were journalists.

Suspect Jarron Ramos
REUTERS

The suspect is believed to be Jarrod Ramos, 38, of Laurel, who brought a defamation case against the paper in 2012.

Phil Davis, a Capital Gazette crime reporter, said he was hiding under his desk along with other newspaper employees when the shooter stopped firing, the Capital Gazette reported on its website.

The newsroom looked "like a war zone," he told the Baltimore Sun, adding, "I don't know why he stopped."

A video grab shows police at the scene following a shooting
EPA

"As much as I'm going to try to articulate how traumatizing it is to be hiding under your desk, you don't know until you're there and you feel helpless," Davis said.

Police officers in the Maryland capital of Annapolis responded within a minute to a 911 call about a shooting in progress and apprehended the suspect who was hiding under a desk, authorities said.

"His intent was to cause harm," William Krampf, Anne Arundel County's acting police chief, told a news conference. "This was a targeted attack on the Capital Gazette." He did not say why the gunman may have targeted the newspaper or its employees.

Precaution: New York Police officers are seen deployed outside the New York Times
REUTERS

Capital Gazette runs multiple newspapers out of its Annapolis office and the group includes one of the oldest newspapers in the United States, the Gazette, which traces its origins back to 1727.

Law enforcement in Baltimore and New York City deployed extra officers to the offices of the New York Times and other major media outlets as a precaution, authorities said.

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