Newspaper gunman who killed 5 in Maryland was 'consumed' with obsessive thoughts, defense says
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The gunman who shot his way into the newsroom of the Capital Gazette, a newspaper in Maryland, and killed five people there three years ago had been living as a hermit for years before the massacre, his Maryland defense team said Tuesday.
Jarrod Ramos, 41, had been angrily obsessing over a perceived slight the newspaper had printed about him and planning the attack in minute detail, his lawyer said. Ramos also surveilled the newspaper's Annapolis office and bought tactical gear, including the 12-gauge shotgun he used to carry out the attack, though he had never fired a weapon before.
He spent years plotting and biding his time, even going so far as to wait for his beloved cat to die so that he would not leave it alone when he went to jail after the shooting, the lawyer said during her opening statement.
'Story just had to be told': Slain Capital Gazette journalist's widow finishes his book
The gunman's bizarre and solitary lifestyle before the mass shooting will be the focus of his sanity trial this week in a Maryland courtroom. A jury gathered in Annapolis Tuesday to hear opening statements.
The shooting was the deadliest attack on a newsroom in U.S. history. It shook the nation and newsrooms across the country and brought widespread demonstrations of support for the Annapolis daily.
What the jury will decide
The panel of eight men and four women does not have to decide whether the shooter is guilty. He has already admitted to murdering newspaper staffers Rob Hiaasen, Wendi Winters, Gerald Fischman, John McNamara and Rebecca Smith on June 28, 2018.
Instead, the jurors will have to assess whether Ramos' actions were those of a clearheaded killer or of someone suffering from such a profound mental disorder that he could not understand his actions were criminal.
A range of experts have concluded that Ramos could suffer from a number of psychological disorders, his defense lawyer said in court.
The list includes autism spectrum disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, delusional disorder and narcissistic personality disorder.
Expert testimony will make up most of the evidence presented at the sanity phase of Ramos's trial. His defense team has the burden of proving that he is not criminally responsible for the shooting because of mental illness.
The prosecution did not make an opening statement Tuesday, but will address the jury after the defense presents its evidence.
Ramos's lawyer, Katy O'Donnell, called the horror of the mass shooting "staggering." She told jurors the evidence, which includes surveillance video from inside the Capital Gazette office, will be difficult to watch.
Ramos "stands here before you today guilty," O'Donnell told the jury.
"Mr. Ramos is guilty, and he is also not criminally responsible."
Ramos's sanity trial is expected to continue for several days. The jury's decision will determine if he spends the rest of his life in prison or is committed to a state hospital for an indefinite period of time.
What the case will detail
O'Donnell told jurors that Ramos's sister will testify that he always led an isolated life and seemed not to understand personal relationships.
He has never married and never had a romantic relationship aside from a cyber relationship with a woman whose real name he never learned, his lawyer said. He has no friends, associates or coworkers, she said. His closest relationship was with his cat, Tiger.
Ramos's life had been defined by his obsessive tendencies for years, O'Donnell said.
In 2011, he pleaded guilty to harassing a woman he'd known briefly in high school, to whom he had reached out at age 30 in search of a personal relationship.
When the woman slowly stopped responding to his communications, he became enraged, sending her angry messages and calling her workplace.
A Capital Gazette staffer wrote about the case in a piece titled "Jarrod wants to be your friend." Ramos became obsessed with a single line in the story, O'Donnell said, which he believed to be inaccurate.
The story said that Ramos had messaged his high school acquaintance "(expletive) you, leave me alone," after she had stopped responding to him.
"He believed that made him look like he must be delusional and answering to voices inside his head," she told jurors. The incident kicked off a years-long campaign by Ramos to regain his reputation by suing the Capital Gazette.
His lawsuits failed and he became "consumed" with conspiratorial ideas, O'Donnell said.
"He believed that the Capital Gazette and the Maryland judiciary were conspiring to persecute him and to ruin his life and to make it impossible for him to ever have a normal relationship," the lawyer said.
Ramos lived as a hermit for the next two years, refusing to leave his apartment except for necessities, she said. For two weeks before his cat died in the spring of 2018, Ramos laid on a couch with the cat on his chest, urinating in bottles so that he did not have to move.
More: Newspaper gunman insanity trial to start in Maryland after three years
After his cat's death, Ramos decided to carry out his plan for revenge. He spent the last of his money on a lifetime membership to the U.S. Chess Federation, which he planned to use during his time in jail.
He rented a vehicle and traveled to the Capital Gazette's office on the afternoon of June 28, 2018. He barricaded the office's other exit, shot through the locked glass front door and fired a total of 11 times, killing the five staff members.
Video shown in court Tuesday showed Ramos methodically moving through the office, appearing to hunt staff members who were trying to hide. He dressed as if preparing for a military mission, wearing safety glasses and carrying a flashlight on his gun.
Ramos used a computer in the office to tweet a chilling message, a reference back to the article that triggered his rage: "F--- you, leave me alone."
He called 911 to report that the shooting was over and laid down under a desk. Police responded to the shooting rapidly and arrested Ramos within a few minutes of arriving.
Reporters with long history in their community
The victims of the shooting and their newsroom colleagues had deep connections to their community and across Maryland.
The surviving newspaper staff's response also came to represent the perseverance of journalists in an industry already besieged by economic turmoil and partisan attacks.
On the day of the shooting, reporter Chase Cook tweeted defiantly, "We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow."
Cook and some other members of the Capital Gazette's staff, including top editor Rick Hutzell, recently announced they would take buyouts after the hedge fund Alden Global Capital bought the company that owns the Baltimore Sun and the Capital Gazette.
A new memorial dedicated Monday in Annapolis represents each of the shooting victims with a granite column. The Guardians of the First Amendment Memorial also features an inscription of the U.S. Constitution's promise to safeguard a free press.
Follow Madeleine O'Neill on Twitter: @maddioneill.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Capital Gazette shooting trial: Focus on newspaper gunman's sanity
