Yesterday, a gunman had entered the Capital Gazette office & started shooting at the employees. But why did he do so? Was it a random shooting or not?
A US gunman with a long-standing grudge against a Maryland newspaper on Friday blasted his way through its newsroom with a shotgun and smoke grenades, killing at least five people and injuring two others in one of the deadliest attacks on the media in America.
The shooter identified as Jarrod Ramos, 38, has been arrested and the police are questioning him.
The shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper in the US city of Annapolis is said to be one of the worst attacks on the media in decades in the US and has been described as a “targeted attack” by the police.
“This was a targeted attack on the Capital Gazette. This person was prepared today to come in. He was prepared to shoot people. His intent was to cause harm,” Anne Arundel County Deputy Police Chief William Krampf told reporters at a news conference.
READ ALSO: Random shooting in newsroom kills several employees
The five persons killed in the shootout
- Wendi Winters, 65, reporter
- Rebecca Smith, 34, sales assistant
- Robert Hiaasen, 59, editor
- Gerald Fischman, 61, editorial writer
- John McNamara, 56, reporter and editor
According to ‘The Washington Post’, Ramos lost a defamation case he had brought against ‘The Capital Gazette’ over a 2011 column he contended defamed him.
“The column provided an account of Ramos’s guilty plea to criminal harassment of a woman over social media,” the report said. White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters said President Donald Trump has been briefed on the situation and the White House has been in touch with the FBI.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the horrible shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland. We are grateful to the first responders who are on the scene,” she said.
Asked about Trump’s criticism of the press corps, she said the president and his staff did not believe the violence was acceptable in any situation, adding that “we stand by that”.
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