Capital Gazette puts out Friday edition hours after five staff shot dead - ‘Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow’
Journalists and staff at the Capital Gazette put out the Friday edition of their paper hours after a gunman shot and killed five of their colleagues.
The Maryland newspaper tweeted the front page of today’s edition carrying the pictures of its four slain journalists and a sales worker. An earlier tweet read “Yes, we are putting out the damn paper tomorrow.”
Five people were killed and two others were injured when a gunman armed with a shotgun and smoke grenades opened fire at the paper's offices in Annapolis, Maryland.
A suspect in his late 30s was arrested at the scene and police have described the shooting as a “targeted attack”.
The suspect was identified by multiple media outlets as Jarrod W. Ramos, a 38-year-old from Laurel, Maryland. In 2012, Ramos filed a defamation lawsuit against the Capital Gazette and a columnist over a July 2011 story that covered a criminal harassment case against him, the newspaper reported.
The five victims of the shooting have been named as community editor and reporter Wendi Winters, sales assistant Rebecca Smith, assistant editor Rob Hiaasen, editorial page editor Gerald Fischman and sports writer John McNamara.
One of the paper’s reporters, Chase Cook, who was not at the office when the shooting happened, started covering the aftermath on Twitter when he returned to the scene.
— Capital Gazette (@capgaznews) June 29, 2018
At one point he told his followers he did not know what the motive was for the attack but added: "I can tell you this: We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow."
Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow. https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R
— Capital Gazette (@capgaznews) June 29, 2018
The paper’s main account later retweeted Cook reiterating the sentiment. The edition’s front page carried pictures of the slain colleagues with the headline ‘5 shot dead at The Capital’.
It also carried a quote from the paper’s editor Rick Hutzell, who said: “We are heartbroken, devastated. Our colleagues and friends are gone.
“No matter how deep our loss nothing compared to the grief our friends’ families are feeling”.
The Capital's story also described the suspect Ramos, who is being questioned by the police, as having a “long-standing grudge against the newspaper”.
The Friday edition of the paper left its comment page blank in memory of those killed. The page was printed with a simple message to readers saying: "Today we are speechless: This page was intentionally left blank today to commemorate the victims of Thursday's shootings at our office."
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. pic.twitter.com/5HzKN2IW7Q
— Capital Gazette (@capgaznews) June 29, 2018
After naming the victims, it added: "Tomorrow this page will return to its steady purpose of offering our readers informed opinion about the world around them, that they might be better citizens."
Reporters were seen yesterday working on their laptops at a makeshift workspace on the back of a truck to get the edition out, while they were still waiting for news of their colleagues.
During the attack, reporters at The Capital tweeted updates covering what they were seeing.
One, Anthony Messenger, wrote on Twitter: "Active shooter 888 Bestgate please help us".
Another, Phil Davis, the paper’s courts and crime reporter, posted a series of messages describing what he had seen.
There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload
— Phil Davis (@PhilDavis_CG) June 28, 2018
One read: “There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload.”