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{
"title": "Journalist stopped at the border multiple times, told passport is flagged",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-stopped-border-told-passport-flagged/",
"first_published_at": "2019-08-02T18:39:00.491988Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-06T19:51:49.786264Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-06T19:51:49.703289Z",
"date": "2018-07-01",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"uwht4\">Freelance multimedia reporter Brooke Binkowski was stopped a second time by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in July 2018 as she was re-entering the United States at the San Ysidro port of entry.</p><p data-block-key=\"w1jfs\">As with her <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?categories=5&targets=382\">other stops</a>, Binkowski told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was directed to a secondary screening area to have both her person and her vehicle searched. Binkowski told the Tracker that she had been in Mexico, in part, “hunting down documents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gr6w5\">Officers questioned her about where she had been in Tijuana, Binkowski said, and when she told them she was a journalist, she was questioned about her reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"d3hrm\">Binkowski, a U.S. citizen, told the Tracker that she felt her treatment by the CBP officers was unusual and unacceptable.</p><p data-block-key=\"mg9je\">“They would go through my stuff and then they would put their hands near their guns or where their guns are supposed to be, they would get in my face,” Binkowski said. She also noted that the exclusively male officers treated her, “a small, 5-foot-3 skinny woman,” as though she was a physical threat.</p><p data-block-key=\"rsg4p\">“For them to be treating me as though I was physically intimidating for them to the point where they would shout things like, ‘Back away, ma’am, you’re going to have to back away! Get back!’ or ‘Don’t give me that attitude,’ it was not acceptable,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bh68n\">Binkowski told the Tracker she asked to speak to a supervising officer about her treatment. The officer informed her that there was a flag on her passport but that he could not provide any information on what it was for because he did not have access to the details.</p><p data-block-key=\"ud8sd\">He advised her to file a Freedom of Information Act request on her own name, which she did in May 2019. Binkowski told the Tracker that she put off filing the request as other issues took priority and she was uncertain whether she truly wanted to know the answer.</p><p data-block-key=\"2y62p\">In a letter dated July 11 that Binkowski shared with the Tracker, CBP acknowledged its receipt of her request and advised her that “due to the increasing number of FOIA requests received by this office, we may encounter some delay in processing your request.” It further stated that “the average time to process a FOIA request related to ‘travel/border incidents’ is a minimum of 3-6 months.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Binkowski4_2975IFst.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"8xycx\">Freelance multimedia reporter Brooke Binkowski, shown here in 2015, was stopped multiple times while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "San Ysidro Port of Entry",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": true,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Brooke Binkowski (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Freelance multimedia reporter stopped at San Ysidro border crossing, questioned about reporting",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-multimedia-reporter-stopped-san-ysidro-border-crossing-questioned-about-reporting/",
"first_published_at": "2019-08-02T18:38:20.530807Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-09T16:29:58.268624Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-09T16:29:58.189861Z",
"date": "2018-07-01",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8dquo\">Beginning in 2017, freelance multimedia reporter Brooke Binkowski noticed she was sent to secondary screening whenever she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.</p><p data-block-key=\"1fn4o\">“The first few times it was a cursory inspection so I chalked it up to increased security and border agents flexing their muscles more or less because they could,” Binkowski, a U.S. citizen, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"nuzz2\">She said she then became concerned about her treatment in July 2018, when she was pulled into secondary screening as she re-entered via the San Ysidro port of entry. Binkowski told the Tracker that she had been in Mexico, in part, “hunting down documents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"yzxbj\">While she can’t remember the exact date of the incident, Binkowski told the Tracker that her mid-afternoon crossing in July 2018 was unusual, and struck her as “security theater.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qbwaz\">“I was yelled at, intimidated by men with guns on their hips,” she said. “One man got right in my face and screamed that my attitude was fucking shit.”</p><p data-block-key=\"nwakq\">After she was directed to secondary, Binkowski said she was given a cursory inspection and asked to empty her pockets, but U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers did not ask her to unlock any electronic devices for search.</p><p data-block-key=\"9w2q5\">Officers did question her about where she had been in Tijuana, Binkowski said. When she told them she was a journalist, she was questioned about her reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"ude6w\">Binkowski told the Tracker that her car was searched twice before she was permitted to leave. She estimated that she was prevented from crossing the border for approximately an hour and a half before being permitted to enter the U.S.</p><p data-block-key=\"a6ylw\">Binkowski would be stopped each time she crossed the border for the remainder of the year. Read <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?categories=5&targets=382\">those incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Binkowski3_J3b2G8zP.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ojv16\">Brooke Binkowski, a freelance multimedia reporter, realized in 2017 that she was being pulled into secondary screening each time she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "San Ysidro Port of Entry",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": true,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Brooke Binkowski (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist Liam Cohen pepper-sprayed by police while covering Patriot Prayer rally",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-liam-cohen-pepper-sprayed-police-while-covering-patriot-prayer-rally/",
"first_published_at": "2018-07-11T18:10:40.585627Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-25T19:54:08.526337Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-25T19:54:08.433097Z",
"date": "2018-06-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"viv1l\">Freelance photojournalist Liam Cohen was tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed by police officers while covering a far-right rally in Portland, Oregon, on June 30, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"z3ppq\">Cohen was documenting the rally for the Willamette Week, a Portland alt-weekly, when he got caught in between members of the far-right Patriot Prayer group and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"nin3g\">“Tear gas got shot in the middle to try to break the groups up,” Cohen told Freedom of the Press Foundation.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Just got seriously tear gassed and severely battered. Can’t post photos at the moment but will as soon as I can. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/patriotprayer?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#patriotprayer</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Portland</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/protest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#protest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/riot?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#riot</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/antifa?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#antifa</a></p>— PDX Photojournalist (@pdxjourno) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/pdxjourno/status/1013225164786491392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 1, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"emq9z\">Cohen said he then was pushed around the corner heading north on 2nd St, where police officers in riot gear shot streams of pepper spray into the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"0au4f\">“They shot right at me,” he said. “It seemed like they were going for a broad ‘let’s hit everybody.’ I think they were targeting anyone who was near that skirmish.”</p><p data-block-key=\"69bct\">He resumed documenting the protest shortly after being tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed.</p><p data-block-key=\"djolk\">“I’ve been pepper sprayed before, so in a weird way, I’m used to it,” Cohen said. “Everything was burning at first, but this passed after a few minutes. I waited until I got my bearings, threw water into my eyes from my water bottle, and just continued following the protest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"omwys\">Cohen said that at the time he was pepper-sprayed, he was carrying a large camera and wore both press credentials and a press patch.</p><p data-block-key=\"42pz8\">“The way that Portland police handle this...they don’t discriminate against hitting journalists," he said. "If they saw me and knew that I was press, they didn’t care. That’s the way it goes out there, they don’t care if you’re press or not.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Liam Cohen (Freelance)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Reporter injured while hiding from Capital Gazette newsroom gunman",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-injured-while-hiding-from-capital-gazette-newsroom-gunman/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-15T19:57:12.522808Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:58:58.101078Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:58:57.971971Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
"latitude": 38.97859,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jqofw\"><i>Editor’s Note: In January 2023, families of victims and some of the survivors of the 2018 Capital Gazette newsroom shooting dismissed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit after reaching a settlement agreement. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is updating its Assault category documentation to include the five journalists who were plaintiffs in the suit and present during the attack.</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette&tags=killed\"><i>Four journalists</i></a><i> and one newsroom employee were killed.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"3s2ld\">Reporter Rachael Pacella was working in the Capital Gazette offices on June 28, 2018, when a man armed with a shotgun entered the newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, and shot multiple newspaper employees.</p><p data-block-key=\"7usor\">The shooter entered the offices just after 2:30 p.m., shooting through the glass doors leading into the newsroom. Pacella <a href=\"https://writeoncapgaz.wordpress.com/2018/07/06/stitches-and-the-ugly-watercolor-duckling/\">wrote in a blog post</a> after the incident that she ran to escape through the back door but hit her head against it when she discovered that it had been barricaded, causing a gash between her eyebrows. She then hid between two filing cabinets with a clipboard cutting into her leg, <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/jarrod-ramos-sentence-capital-gazette-shooting/2021/09/27/50aad956-1d6f-11ec-bcb8-0cb135811007_story.html\">according to The Washington Post</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7hrcj\">The gunman called police at 2:38 p.m., saying that he was done shooting and that he would surrender, <a href=\"https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/07/08/prosecution-begins-making-case-for-prison-sentence-for-capital-gazette-shooter/\">according to Maryland Matters</a>. Officers entered the Capital Gazette offices at 2:44 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"25s7c\">“After a little bit, I heard some yelling, and it was clear that it was police,” Pacella later <a href=\"https://www.wypr.org/wypr-news/2021-07-09/i-thought-i-was-going-to-die-capital-gazette-witnesses-testify\">testified</a>. “And eventually an officer came into my field of view. It said ‘police’ on the back, and they told us to get out.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bvr6q\">Pacella said she had left her shoes at her desk and had to be carried out by an officer to avoid cutting herself on glass from the shattered front door. The Baltimore Sun <a href=\"https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/anne-arundel/bs-md-capital-gazette-shooting-20180629-story.html\">reported</a> that she was taken to the hospital where received three stitches and was told she had a concussion.</p><p data-block-key=\"3o3oe\">In her blog, Pacella wrote that during the five hours she was in the hospital, she asked for paper and a pen and started reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"glm8\">“I had no information, so I gathered my own. The name of the doctor treating me, the first name and last initial of the officer in the room. My immediate recollections post-shooting. ‘Dried blood on right arm looked like veins outside of my skin.’ ‘The office smelled like gunpowder,’” Pacella <a href=\"https://writeoncapgaz.wordpress.com/2018/07/15/a-trip-to-the-newseum-and-isolation-in-the-aftermath/\">wrote</a>. “I am proud of that first notebook. I am proud of my instinct to write down and record everything that was going on around me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"89jh8\">Of the 11 Capital Gazette employees in the newsroom during the shooting, five were killed and two injured. All journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette\">killed in or present for the attack</a> are documented in the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s Assault category.</p><p data-block-key=\"5g402\">The ground-floor newsroom of the Capital Gazette was home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the deadliest single attack on journalists in United States history, <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2018/06/alleged-killer-of-capital-gazette-employees-had-ma/\">according to the Committee to Protect Journalists</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"259ln\">The gunman was convicted on 23 counts in July 2021, the Capital Gazette <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/crime/ac-cn-capital-gazette-shooting-trial-day-12-20210715-jyvoqd2czve63ar3pgo7ub7qim-story.html\">reported</a>. He was sentenced on Sept. 28, 2021, to six life sentences — five without the possibility of parole — plus 345 years in prison, all to be served consecutively.</p><p data-block-key=\"7i9tb\">In announcing the sentence, Judge Michael Wachs said the defendant was getting what he deserved. “To say the defendant showed a callous and cruel disregard for the sanctity of human life is simply an understatement,” Wachs said.</p><p data-block-key=\"aoqfm\">Pacella <a href=\"https://www.marylandmatters.org/2019/10/28/capital-gazette-shooter-pleads-guilty/\">told Maryland Matters</a> that she was relieved when the verdict was handed down. “I’m happy because I feel like today brought some closure,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"53m5j\">In June 2021, the families of victims and five of the six survivors filed lawsuits against the Sun and Tribune Publishing, The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/legal-proceedings-crime-lawsuits-annapolis-shootings-642be45d73aa5b6701feb73c9c3ab942\">reported</a>. (The Capital was purchased by Baltimore Sun Media, a subsidiary of Tribune Publishing, in 2014.)</p><p data-block-key=\"ehka\">The suits — one for wrongful death, the other for negligence — both argued that the shooting was preventable. The negligence lawsuit said that if “reasonable steps” had been taken, the gunman “would have been detected and stopped prior to entering The Capital’s newsroom, and he may never have attempted the assault at all.” The cases were consolidated in early 2022, according to the AP.</p><p data-block-key=\"ff72m\">The parties reached a settlement agreement and filed a joint motion for dismissal on Jan. 3, 2023. Pacella confirmed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the details of the settlement are confidential.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS1UHNB.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"nvz5k\">Staffers of the Capital Gazette attend a vigil on June 29, 2018, the day after five people were killed at the newspaper’s offices in Annapolis, Maryland. Survivor Rachael Pacella, on the far right in green, was injured when she hid during the shooting.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "C-02-CV-21-000820",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"state": {
"name": "Maryland",
"abbreviation": "MD"
},
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"settled"
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"tags": [
"shot / shot at"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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"targeted_journalists": [
"Rachael Pacella (Capital Gazette)"
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},
{
"title": "Sports reporter killed in Capital Gazette newsroom shooting by man upset with newspaper coverage",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sports-reporter-killed-in-capital-gazette-newsroom-shooting-by-man-upset-with-newspaper-coverage/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-21T20:45:58.827623Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:57:24.356472Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:57:24.207850Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
"latitude": 38.97859,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"uefy6\">On June 28, 2018, a man armed with a shotgun entered the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, and shot multiple journalists and other media workers, the Baltimore Sun <a href=\"http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-gazette-shooting-20180628-story.html\">reported</a>. Five people, including four journalists, were killed in the attack, and two others were injured. Police later identified the suspected shooter as Jarrod Ramos, who had previously sued the Capital Gazette for defamation.</p><p data-block-key=\"h7kuf\">Community news and sports reporter <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/maryland/annapolis/bs-md-john-mcnamara-20180628-story.html\">John McNamara</a>, who had worked for the Capital Gazette for 24 years, was among those killed. Anne Arundel County police said that other Capital Gazette employees killed in the attack were:</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"2c7ww\">Rob Hiaasen, columnist and assistant editor</li><li data-block-key=\"p59rx\">Gerald Fischman, editorial page editor</li><li data-block-key=\"8wwez\">Wendi Winters, community news reporter and columnist</li><li data-block-key=\"cf89n\">Rebecca Smith, advertising sales assistant</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"jmnyz\">Two other Capital Gazette employees, whose names were not released, were injured in the attack. Find the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s documentation of all the journalists killed in the attack <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette&tags=killed\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9t1q6\">The shooting occurred on June 28 inside the Capital Gazette newsroom, which is located on the ground floor of an office building in Annapolis, Maryland. The newsroom is home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the most deadly attack on journalists in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"rmyf5\">Phil Davis, a crime reporter for The Capital who was inside the newsroom during the shooting, told the Sun that he saw multiple colleagues shot. He said the scene inside the newsroom "was like a war zone." In a series of powerful tweets, he described what he witnessed.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead.</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421008597364742?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees. Can't say much more and don't want to declare anyone dead, but it's bad.</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421862402527232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012422058972676097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qhevl\">Jarrod Ramos, the suspect in the shooting, had threatened and harassed Capital Gazette staffers for years, <a href=\"http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ramos-search-20180628-story.html\">according to the Sun</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"sf8ch\">It began in July 2011, when Capital columnist Eric Hartley wrote about how Ramos was charged with harassment after stalking and threatening a high school classmate online. In response to Hartley's column, Ramos waged a one-man war against him and the paper, <a href=\"https://pilotonline.com/news/local/crime/article_56a204e6-7b39-11e8-8586-c75874de25c7.html\">according to The Virginian-Pilot</a>, where Hartley now works.</p><p data-block-key=\"8zwsv\">In July 2012, he filed a defamation lawsuit against Hartley, Capital Gazette Communications, and The Capital editor and publisher Tom Marquardt. Ramos represented himself in the suit, which was filed in Prince George's County, Maryland. At a March 2013 court hearing, a judge dismissed Ramos' complaint with prejudice and tried to explain to Ramos why the article was not defamatory:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf#page=7\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"i9dnb\">You know, I understand exactly how you feel. I think people who are the subject of newspaper articles, whoever they may be, feel that there is a requirement that they be placed in the best light, or they have an opportunity to have the story reported to their satisfaction, or have the opportunity to have however much input they believe is appropriate.</p><p data-block-key=\"k9kp6\">But that's simply not true. There is nothing in those complaints that prove that anything that was published about you is, in fact, false. It all came from a public record. It was of the result of a criminal conviction. And it cannot give rise to a defamation suit.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf#page=7\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"lhspw\">Transcript of March 29, 2013 motion hearing</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tx0qw\">Ramos appealed the judge's decision. The Maryland Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's dismissal of the case and ordered Ramos to pay Capital Gazette's legal fees. In an unpublished opinion, one of the appellate court judges wrote that "a discussion of defamation law would be an exercise in futility, because the appellant [Ramos] fails to come close to alleging a case of defamation," and sharply criticized Ramos for bringing the lawsuit:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"ureai\">The appellant is pro se. A lawyer would almost certainly have told him not to proceed with this case. It reveals a fundamental failure to understand what defamation law is and, more particularly, what defamation law is not. The appellant is aggrieved because the newspaper story about his guilty plea assumed that he was guilty and that the guilty plea was, therefore, properly accepted. He is aggrieved because the story was sympathetic toward the harassment victim and was not equally understanding of the harassment perpetrator. The appellant wanted equal coverage of his side of the story. He wanted a chance to put the victim in a bad light, in order to justify and explain why he did what he did. That, however, is not the function of defamation law.</p><p data-block-key=\"wzjsf\">The appellant was charged with a criminal act. The appellant perpetrated a criminal act. The appellant plead guilty to having perpetrated a criminal act. The appellant was punished for his criminal act. He is not entitled to equal sympathy with his victim and may not blithely dismiss her as a "bipolar drunkard." He does not appear to have learned his lesson.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"rhd2y\">Unpublished appellate opinion</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"79bqu\">Ramos then tried to appeal to the state's highest court, the Maryland Court of Appeals, which declined to hear his case.</p><p data-block-key=\"zhqn6\">Ramos also harassed The Capital and its reporters outside of the courtroom.</p><p data-block-key=\"skfl2\">According to the Sun, a Twitter account in Ramos' name tweeted threats against The Capital. The account, which has since been suspended, included photographs of Hartley and Marquardt, and alluded to the mass shooting of journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"mrq86\">Marquardt, who served as The Capital's editor and publisher until 2012, told the Sun that he had been concerned about Ramos' obsessive hatred of the paper and whether it could escalate into violence.</p><p data-block-key=\"3kexr\">"I was seriously concerned he would threaten us with physical violence,” he told the Sun. “I even told my wife, 'We have to be concerned. This guy could really hurt us.' … I remember telling our attorneys, 'This is a guy who is going to come in and shoot us.'"</p><p data-block-key=\"6py3c\">Marquardt told the Los Angeles Times that when he notified the Anne Arundel County police about Ramos' harassment back in 2013, the police said they could not arrest him for his behavior toward the newspaper. Marquardt said that the paper considered getting a restraining order against Ramos but worried about how Ramos would react.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0uy2\">"The theory back then was, 'Let’s not infuriate him more than I have to.… The more you agitate this guy, the worse it’s gonna get,'" he told the Los Angeles Times.</p><p data-block-key=\"h7ybk\">William Shirley, an attorney who helped defend Capital Gazette against Ramos' defamation suit, told the New York Daily News that Ramos threatened during a court hearing to assault Capital journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"s7s6v\">"I remember at one point he was talking in a motion and somehow worked in how he wanted to smash Hartley’s face into the concrete," Shirley said. "We were concerned at the time. He was not stable."</p><p data-block-key=\"etcte\">On June 29, the day after the shooting, Ramos was charged with five counts of first-degree murder.</p><p data-block-key=\"guao8\">In the aftermath of the attack, Capital Gazette journalists worked with colleagues at the Sun to ensure that the next day's paper would still be published.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow. <a href=\"https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R\">https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R</a></p>— Capital Gazette (@capgaznews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/capgaznews/status/1012549266492067840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 29, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dpyyc\">The June 29 edition of The Capital includes a front-page story about the shooting, bylined by 10 Capital reporters, and obituaries for all five of the people killed in the shooting. The opinion page of the paper is empty, except for a single message: "Today, we are speechless … Tomorrow this page will return to its steady purpose of offering our readers informed opinions about the world around them, that they might be better citizens."</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "Community news and sports reporter John McNamara, who had worked for the Capital Gazette for 24 years, was among those killed when a man armed with a shotgun entered the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 28, 2018.",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"enuev\">Anne Arundel county executive Steve Schuh holds a copy of The Capital newspaper during an interview the day after a gunman killed five people and injured several others at the newspaper's offices in Annapolis, Maryland.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"case_number": "C-02-CV-21-000820",
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"state": {
"name": "Maryland",
"abbreviation": "MD"
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"updates": [
"(2021-07-15 00:00:00+00:00) Maryland man found criminally responsible for deaths of five in newsroom shooting",
"(2023-01-03 15:12:00+00:00) Survivors, families of slain journalists settle lawsuit against Capital Gazette’s parent company",
"(2021-09-28 00:00:00+00:00) Gunman who killed Capital Gazette journalists and staffer sentenced to multiple consecutive life sentences",
"(2019-10-28 00:00:00+00:00) The Maryland man accused of massacring five staff members at the Capital Gazette newsroom last year enters guilty plea"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing",
"settled"
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"tags": [
"killed",
"shot / shot at"
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"John McNamara (Capital Gazette)"
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{
"title": "Sports intern hid from Capital Gazette newsroom gunman",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sports-intern-hid-from-capital-gazette-newsroom-gunman/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-15T20:02:41.134313Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:59:33.678506Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:59:33.590891Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
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"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i6l2r\"><i>Editor’s Note: In January 2023, families of victims and some of the survivors of the 2018 Capital Gazette newsroom shooting dismissed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit after reaching a settlement agreement. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is updating its Assault category documentation to include the five journalists who were plaintiffs in the suit and present during the attack.</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette&tags=killed\"><i>Four journalists</i></a><i> and one newsroom employee were killed.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"62apj\">Anthony Messenger was four weeks into his internship as a sports reporter for the Capital Gazette when a man armed with a shotgun entered the newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 28, 2018, and shot multiple newspaper employees.</p><p data-block-key=\"8s4g2\">Messenger, who did not respond to requests for comment in early 2023, <a href=\"https://www.today.com/news/capital-gazette-intern-anthony-messenger-shooting-newspaper-i-thought-i-t132192\">told TODAY</a> the day after the shooting that when he heard the first pop just after 2:30 p.m. he thought it was fireworks.</p><p data-block-key=\"4hj10\">“I turned and looked over my shoulder toward the front of the room, toward the entrance, and I saw some faces that looked concerned,” he said. “I saw that the glass doors that open into our office were blown out.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6kq75\">When he heard a second pop, he said he grabbed his keys and ran toward the back exit of the office alongside <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-hid-from-capital-gazette-newsroom-gunman/\">reporter Selene San Felice</a>. The door had been barricaded from the outside.</p><p data-block-key=\"5i5f5\">“I quickly recognized, oh, this is a malicious situation, he’s here to do harm to us,” Messenger said. “And we immediately ran and got under one of the desks in the far back corner of the office and we just huddled as close as we could to each other and tried to stay out of sight.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e9ok2\">Messenger told TODAY that he called 911 as soon as they got under the desk and texted a friend asking him to call as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"eg5j9\">“In that moment, I thought I was going to die, I thought we were going to die,” Messenger said. “The only solace in that moment was, ‘Here, Selene, you can have my phone: Text whoever you need to text, contact whoever you need to contact.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"d28di\">After reaching out to her family, San Felice tweeted the building’s location on Messenger’s account with a plea for help.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Active shooter 888 Bestgate please help us</p>— Anthony Messenger (@anthonydmess) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/anthonydmess/status/1012406073704239105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i6l2r\">The gunman called police at 2:38 p.m., saying that he was done shooting and that he would surrender, <a href=\"https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/07/08/prosecution-begins-making-case-for-prison-sentence-for-capital-gazette-shooter/\">according to Maryland Matters</a>. Officers entered the Capital Gazette offices at 2:44 p.m. Messenger said he and San Felice were able to identify themselves and leave the office.</p><p data-block-key=\"5v8hb\">Of the 11 Capital Gazette employees in the newsroom during the shooting, five were killed and two injured. All journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette\">killed in or present for the attack</a> are documented in the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s Assault category.</p><p data-block-key=\"6pbci\">The ground-floor newsroom of the Capital Gazette was home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the deadliest single attack on journalists in United States history, <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2018/06/alleged-killer-of-capital-gazette-employees-had-ma/\">according to the Committee to Protect Journalists</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"d6gtr\">The gunman was convicted on 23 counts in July 2021, the Capital Gazette <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/crime/ac-cn-capital-gazette-shooting-trial-day-12-20210715-jyvoqd2czve63ar3pgo7ub7qim-story.html\">reported</a>. He was sentenced on Sept. 28, 2021, to six life sentences — five without the possibility of parole — plus 345 years in prison, all to be served consecutively.</p><p data-block-key=\"cstur\">In announcing the sentence, Judge Michael Wachs said the defendant was getting what he deserved. “To say the defendant showed a callous and cruel disregard for the sanctity of human life is simply an understatement,” Wachs said.</p><p data-block-key=\"2k72b\">In June 2021, the families of victims and five of the six survivors filed lawsuits against the Sun and Tribune Publishing, The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/legal-proceedings-crime-lawsuits-annapolis-shootings-642be45d73aa5b6701feb73c9c3ab942\">reported</a>. (The Capital was purchased by Baltimore Sun Media, a subsidiary of Tribune Publishing, in 2014.)</p><p data-block-key=\"5ahdm\">The suits — one for wrongful death, the other for negligence — both argued that the shooting was preventable. The negligence lawsuit said that if “reasonable steps” had been taken, the gunman “would have been detected and stopped prior to entering The Capital’s newsroom, and he may never have attempted the assault at all.” The cases were consolidated in early 2022, according to the AP.</p><p data-block-key=\"5gq76\">The parties reached a settlement agreement and filed a joint motion for dismissal on Jan. 3, 2023. An attorney for some of the plaintiffs told the AP that the details of the settlement are confidential.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"4nq1h\">Staffers of the Capital Gazette attend a candlelight vigil on June 29, 2018, the day after five people were killed at the newspaper’s offices in Annapolis, Maryland.</p>",
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{
"title": "Capital Gazette doors shattered by armed gunman",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/capital-gazette-doors-shattered-by-armed-gunman/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-02T21:56:49.794605Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-10-27T21:16:41.881556Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-10-27T21:16:41.788068Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
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"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"c8p9u\">A gunman shot his way into the Capital Gazette newsroom on June 28, 2018, ultimately killing five and injuring two in addition to damaging the offices.</p><p data-block-key=\"95qpf\">Shortly after 2:30 p.m., a man armed with a shotgun appeared at the double-glass doors to the newsroom, The Baltimore Sun <a href=\"https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/anne-arundel/bs-md-capital-gazette-shooting-20180629-story.html\">reported</a>. He pulled on the doors twice and, finding them locked, shot out the right-hand glass.</p><p data-block-key=\"4s1su\">Anthony Messenger, a reporting intern at the time, <a href=\"https://www.today.com/news/capital-gazette-intern-anthony-messenger-shooting-newspaper-i-thought-i-t132192\">told TODAY</a> that when he heard the first pop he thought it was fireworks.</p><p data-block-key=\"b6c8o\">“I turned and looked over my shoulder toward the front of the room, toward the entrance, and I saw some faces that looked concerned,” he said. “I saw that the glass doors that open into our office were blown out.”</p><p data-block-key=\"17gmq\">NPR <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/03/01/972597324/the-capital-gazette-what-the-newsroom-looks-like-2-years-after-shooting\">reported</a> that the shooter methodically moved through the reception area and down the main hallway dividing the office, firing again and again.</p><p data-block-key=\"2pl9t\">The gunman called police at 2:38 p.m., saying that he was done shooting and that he would surrender, <a href=\"https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/07/08/prosecution-begins-making-case-for-prison-sentence-for-capital-gazette-shooter/\">according to Maryland Matters</a>. Officers entered the Capital Gazette offices at 2:44 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"2qu2l\">The Baltimore Sun <a href=\"https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-gazette-shooting-20180628-story.html\">reported</a> that of the journalists and media workers in the Capital Gazette offices that day, five were killed and two were injured. The five killed:</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"altug\">Rob Hiaasen, columnist and assistant editor</li><li data-block-key=\"8eii3\">Gerald Fischman, editorial page editor</li><li data-block-key=\"6ihgf\">John McNamara, community news and sports reporter</li><li data-block-key=\"bevao\">Rebecca Smith, advertising sales assistant</li><li data-block-key=\"5trka\">Wendi Winters, community news reporter and columnist</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"325ot\">All journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette\">killed in or present for the attack</a> on the Capital Gazette newsroom are documented in the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s Assault category.</p><p data-block-key=\"4coi0\">Messenger told TODAY that when they were leaving the offices it was in “shambles.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7gp5s\">The ground-floor newsroom of the Capital Gazette was home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the deadliest single attack on journalists in United States history, <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2018/06/alleged-killer-of-capital-gazette-employees-had-ma/\">according to the Committee to Protect Journalists</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"f9vap\">The gunman was convicted on 23 counts in July 2021, the Capital Gazette <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/crime/ac-cn-capital-gazette-shooting-trial-day-12-20210715-jyvoqd2czve63ar3pgo7ub7qim-story.html\">reported</a>. He was sentenced on Sept. 28, 2021, to six life sentences — five without the possibility of parole — plus 345 years in prison, all to be served consecutively.</p><p data-block-key=\"338he\">In announcing the sentence, Judge Michael Wachs said the defendant was getting what he deserved. “To say the defendant showed a callous and cruel disregard for the sanctity of human life is simply an understatement,” Wachs said.</p><p data-block-key=\"a1fhs\">The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/14/capital-gazette-survivors/\">reported</a> that following the attack, the Capital Gazette was temporarily moved to a former opera house at the University of Maryland. In July 2019, the newsroom relocated to a building with enhanced security and bulletproof walls, but the stay was short-lived. The offices shuttered in early 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and permanently closed that August.</p><p data-block-key=\"fejqh\"><i>Editor’s Note: In January 2023 details around two lawsuits became public, at which point the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker updated its documentation of the events to include the newsroom damage and the journalists present during the newsroom shooting as well as those killed.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1oq9f\">A police car blocks the road in front of the Capital Gazette newsroom on June 29, 2018, a day after a gunman opened fire at the newspaper, killing five people and injuring several others in Annapolis, Maryland.</p>",
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{
"title": "Crime reporter hid from Capital Gazette newsroom gunman",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/crime-reporter-hid-from-capital-gazette-newsroom-gunman/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-15T19:53:19.645145Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:58:44.446528Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:58:44.360616Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
"latitude": 38.97859,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dqy10\"><i>Editor’s Note: In January 2023, families of victims and some of the survivors of the 2018 Capital Gazette newsroom shooting dismissed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit after reaching a settlement agreement. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is updating its Assault category documentation to include the five journalists who were plaintiffs in the suit and present during the attack.</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette&tags=killed\"><i>Four journalists</i></a><i> and one newsroom employee were killed.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"1efpp\">Crime reporter Phil Davis was working in the Capital Gazette offices on June 28, 2018, when a man armed with a shotgun entered the newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, and shot multiple newspaper employees.</p><p data-block-key=\"bavtg\">Davis <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421862402527232\">wrote on Twitter</a> just over an hour after the shooting that a single gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on employees while he and others hid under their desks.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees. Can't say much more and don't want to declare anyone dead, but it's bad.</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421862402527232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dqy10\">“There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk and then hear the gunman reload,” Davis <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012422058972676097\">wrote</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ff4vf\">Davis testified that he texted a police sergeant — one of his sources — asking for help and that there was a shooting in the newsroom, <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/14/capital-gazette-survivors/\">according to The Washington Post</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9du2l\">He <a href=\"https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-gazette-shooting-20180628-story.html\">told The Baltimore Sun</a> that the newsroom was like a war zone.</p><p data-block-key=\"2g5e4\">“I’m a police reporter. I write about this stuff — not necessarily to this extent, but shootings and death — all the time,” Davis said. “But 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.”</p><p data-block-key=\"et60j\">The gunman called police at 2:38 p.m., saying that he was done shooting and that he would surrender, <a href=\"https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/07/08/prosecution-begins-making-case-for-prison-sentence-for-capital-gazette-shooter/\">according to Maryland Matters</a>. Officers entered the Capital Gazette offices at 2:44 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"2k71m\">Of the 11 Capital Gazette employees in the newsroom during the shooting, five were killed and two injured. All journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette\">killed in or present for the attack</a> are documented in the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s Assault category.</p><p data-block-key=\"91kt4\">The ground-floor newsroom of the Capital Gazette was home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the deadliest single attack on journalists in United States history, <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2018/06/alleged-killer-of-capital-gazette-employees-had-ma/\">according to the Committee to Protect Journalists</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9j0ub\">The gunman was convicted on 23 counts in July 2021, the Capital Gazette <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/crime/ac-cn-capital-gazette-shooting-trial-day-12-20210715-jyvoqd2czve63ar3pgo7ub7qim-story.html\">reported</a>. He was sentenced on Sept. 28, 2021, to six life sentences — five without the possibility of parole — plus 345 years in prison, all to be served consecutively.</p><p data-block-key=\"bv6id\">In announcing the sentence, Judge Michael Wachs said the defendant was getting what he deserved. “To say the defendant showed a callous and cruel disregard for the sanctity of human life is simply an understatement,” Wachs said.</p><p data-block-key=\"coslo\">In June 2021, the families of victims and five of the six survivors filed lawsuits against the Sun and Tribune Publishing, The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/legal-proceedings-crime-lawsuits-annapolis-shootings-642be45d73aa5b6701feb73c9c3ab942\">reported</a>. (The Capital was purchased by Baltimore Sun Media, a subsidiary of Tribune Publishing, in 2014.)</p><p data-block-key=\"5dlao\">The suits — one for wrongful death, the other for negligence — both argued that the shooting was preventable. The negligence lawsuit said that if “reasonable steps” had been taken, the gunman “would have been detected and stopped prior to entering The Capital’s newsroom, and he may never have attempted the assault at all.” The cases were consolidated in early 2022, according to the AP.</p><p data-block-key=\"dgsd0\">The parties reached a settlement agreement and filed a joint motion for dismissal on Jan. 3, 2023. Davis confirmed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the details of the settlement are confidential. He said he discourages the idea that the end of the lawsuit equals closure.</p><p data-block-key=\"1s7vi\">“Everyone wants closure, because closure is what makes everything easier to understand. It gives people a way to endnote things,” Davis said. “I hope people realize that it doesn’t create a new chapter for anyone.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"0liu8\">Staffers of the Capital Gazette attend a vigil on June 29, 2018, the day after five people were killed at the newspaper’s offices in Annapolis, Maryland. Phil Davis, fifth from left in gray, testified he hid under his desk to survive the shooting.</p>",
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{
"title": "Reporter hid from Capital Gazette newsroom gunman",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-hid-from-capital-gazette-newsroom-gunman/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-15T20:00:14.679788Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-17T19:02:52.715172Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-17T19:02:52.591673Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
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"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
"latitude": 38.97859,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"160bl\"><i>Editor’s Note: In January 2023, families of victims and some of the survivors of the 2018 Capital Gazette newsroom shooting dismissed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit after reaching a settlement agreement. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is updating its Assault category documentation to include the five journalists who were plaintiffs in the suit and present during the attack.</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette&tags=killed\"><i>Four journalists</i></a><i> and one newsroom employee were killed.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"7s4b5\">Reporter Selene San Felice was working in the Capital Gazette offices on June 28, 2018, when a man armed with a shotgun entered the newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, and shot multiple newspaper employees.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0qdd\">San Felice, who declined to comment when contacted in early 2023, <a href=\"https://www.wypr.org/wypr-news/2021-07-09/i-thought-i-was-going-to-die-capital-gazette-witnesses-testify\">testified in 2021</a> that when the shooting first began, she thought a vase had broken. She then realized the glass doors to the office had been shattered by a shotgun blast. The shooter entered the offices just after 2:30 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"8p50\">She and <a href=\"/all-incidents/sports-intern-hid-from-capital-gazette-newsroom-gunman/\">sports intern Anthony Messenger</a> ran toward the back exit of the office, but found that the door had been barricaded from the outside. The pair then hid under a desk in the back corner of the office, Messenger told <a href=\"https://www.today.com/news/capital-gazette-intern-anthony-messenger-shooting-newspaper-i-thought-i-t132192\">TODAY</a> in an interview a day after the attack.</p><p data-block-key=\"7fo9b\">Messenger called 911 and texted a friend before passing the phone to San Felice so she could reach out to her family.</p><p data-block-key=\"4gh6f\">San Felice testified that she texted her family that there was an active shooter in the newsroom and that she loved them. She said she was careful to not tell them she was going to be OK.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ajgk\">San Felice also posted the building’s location on Messenger's Twitter account with a plea for help.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Active shooter 888 Bestgate please help us</p>— Anthony Messenger (@anthonydmess) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/anthonydmess/status/1012406073704239105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"160bl\">The gunman called police at 2:38 p.m., saying that he was done shooting and that he would surrender, <a href=\"https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/07/08/prosecution-begins-making-case-for-prison-sentence-for-capital-gazette-shooter/\">according to Maryland Matters</a>. Officers entered the Capital Gazette offices at 2:44 p.m. Messenger said he and San Felice were able to identify themselves and leave the office.</p><p data-block-key=\"1lbul\">Of the 11 Capital Gazette employees in the newsroom during the shooting, five were killed and two injured. All journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette\">killed in or present for the attack</a> are documented in the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s Assault category.</p><p data-block-key=\"vem7\">The ground-floor newsroom of the Capital Gazette was home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the deadliest single attack on journalists in United States history, <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2018/06/alleged-killer-of-capital-gazette-employees-had-ma/\">according to the Committee to Protect Journalists</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"216vf\">San Felice <a href=\"https://www.tampabay.com/education/newsroom-shooting-survivor-still-rejects-thoughts-and-prayers-unless-action-comes-with-them-20190325/\">told the Tampa Bay Times</a> in a 2019 interview that when editor Rick Hutzell asked if she wanted to work the day after the shooting, she never considered saying no. “If I didn’t go, the shooter would win,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"d0hn4\">The gunman was convicted on 23 counts in July 2021, the Capital Gazette <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/crime/ac-cn-capital-gazette-shooting-trial-day-12-20210715-jyvoqd2czve63ar3pgo7ub7qim-story.html\">reported</a>. He was sentenced on Sept. 28, 2021, to six life sentences — five without the possibility of parole — plus 345 years in prison, all to be served consecutively.</p><p data-block-key=\"5of3f\">In announcing the sentence, Judge Michael Wachs said the defendant was getting what he deserved. “To say the defendant showed a callous and cruel disregard for the sanctity of human life is simply an understatement,” Wachs said.</p><p data-block-key=\"43ue\">San Felice <a href=\"https://www.wbaltv.com/article/jarrod-ramos-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-without-the-possibility-of-parole/37764491\">told reporters</a> outside the courthouse that it was a relief to see authorities take Ramos away.</p><p data-block-key=\"fgd66\">“It felt really good to be able to look the judge in the eye and also to be able to look the shooter in the eye,” San Felice said. “It meant a lot to me to be able to tell him to his face that he failed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"743kh\">In June 2021, the families of victims and the five journalists who survived filed lawsuits against The Baltimore Sun and Tribune Publishing, The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/legal-proceedings-crime-lawsuits-annapolis-shootings-642be45d73aa5b6701feb73c9c3ab942\">reported</a>. (The Capital was purchased by Baltimore Sun Media, a subsidiary of Tribune Publishing, in 2014.)</p><p data-block-key=\"521gf\">The suits — one for wrongful death, the other for negligence — both argued that the shooting was preventable. The negligence lawsuit said that if “reasonable steps” had been taken, the gunman “would have been detected and stopped prior to entering The Capital’s newsroom, and he may never have attempted the assault at all.” The cases were consolidated in early 2022, according to the AP.</p><p data-block-key=\"4do21\">The parties reached a settlement agreement and filed a joint motion for dismissal on Jan. 3, 2023. An attorney for some of the plaintiffs told the AP that the details of the settlement are confidential.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"nds1n\">Staffers of the Capital Gazette attend a vigil on June 29, 2018, the day after five people were killed at the newspaper’s offices in Annapolis, Maryland. Survivor Selene San Felice, fourth from left in black, hid with a colleague during the shooting.</p>",
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{
"title": "Oregon cameraman attacked while covering ICE protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/oregon-cameraman-attacked-while-covering-ice-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2019-06-04T17:20:11.644529Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-21T22:08:08.510207Z",
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"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f5ipv\">KATU cameraman Carter Maynard was harassed and assaulted while covering a protest on June 28, 2018, outside the offices of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Portland, Oregon.</p><p data-block-key=\"xs6he\">Prosecutors pursued charges against a 33-year-old woman for the attack, alleging that she slammed a wooden gate into Maynard’s head, and that her motivation was due to hostility toward the press. She was acquitted by a Multnomah County jury in May 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"qp1r7\"><a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/05/jury-acquits-ice-protester-accused-of-assaulting-portland-news-cameraman.html\">The Oregonian reported</a> that the medical professionals who examined Maynard diagnosed him with a concussion. A doctor hired by the defense, who did not personally examine him, disputed this.</p><p data-block-key=\"t7z0i\"><a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/05/jury-acquits-ice-protester-accused-of-assaulting-portland-news-cameraman.html\">According to The Oregonian</a>, the woman accused of attacking Maynard testified that she had her hand on the wooden gate but did not slam it into the reporter; rather she let it go and it closed on him. She also testified that she thought the KATU reporter broadcasting images of protesters in attendance would endanger their lives.</p><p data-block-key=\"yry7i\">Maynard, who no longer works for KATU, could not be reached for comment.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"tags": [
"immigration",
"protest"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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},
{
"title": "Editor killed in Capital Gazette newsroom shooting by man upset with newspaper coverage",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-upset-newspaper-coverage-shoots-and-kills-multiple-journalists-capital-gazette-newsroom/",
"first_published_at": "2018-06-29T17:55:14.259753Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T19:25:16.432340Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T19:25:16.298025Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
"latitude": 38.97859,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"y136k\">On June 28, 2018, a man armed with a shotgun entered the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, and shot multiple journalists and other media workers, the Baltimore Sun <a href=\"http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-gazette-shooting-20180628-story.html\">reported</a>. Five people, including four journalists, were killed in the attack, and two others were injured. Police later identified the suspected shooter as Jarrod Ramos, who had previously sued the Capital Gazette for defamation.</p><p data-block-key=\"cwc6r\">Editorial page editor <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/2018/06/28/capital-gazette-shooting-victim-gerald-fischman-clever-and-quirky-voice-of-a-community-newspaper/\">Gerald Fischman</a>, who had worked for the Capital Gazette for more than 25 years, was among those killed. Anne Arundel County police said that the other Capital Gazette employees killed in the attack were:</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"29gs1\"><a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/2018/06/28/capital-gazette-shooting-victim-rob-hiaasen-a-joyful-stylist-a-generous-mentor/\">Rob Hiaasen</a>, columnist and assistant editor</li><li data-block-key=\"op9jm\"><a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/2018/06/28/capital-gazette-shooting-victim-john-mcnamara-sports-reporting-was-his-dream-job/\">John McNamara</a>, community news and sports reporter</li><li data-block-key=\"ntqry\"><a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/2018/06/29/capital-gazette-shooting-victim-wendi-winters-a-prolific-writer-who-chronicled-her-community/\">Wendi Winters</a>, community news reporter and columnist</li><li data-block-key=\"z2z2g\"><a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/2018/06/28/capital-gazette-shooting-victim-rebecca-smith-recent-hire-loved-spending-time-with-family/\">Rebecca Smith</a>, advertising sales assistant</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"q6875\">Two other Capital Gazette employees, whose names were not released, were injured in the attack. Find the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s documentation of all the journalists killed in the attack <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette&tags=killed\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"fmrrz\">The shooting occurred on June 28 inside the Capital Gazette newsroom, which is located on the ground floor of an office building in Annapolis, Maryland. The newsroom is home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the most deadly attack on journalists in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"fb5ti\">Phil Davis, a crime reporter for The Capital who was inside the newsroom during the shooting, told the Sun that he saw multiple colleagues shot. He said the scene inside the newsroom “was like a war zone.” In a series of powerful tweets, he described what he witnessed.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead.</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421008597364742?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees. Can't say much more and don't want to declare anyone dead, but it's bad.</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421862402527232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012422058972676097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ol3gk\">Jarrod Ramos, the suspect in the shooting, had threatened and harassed Capital Gazette staffers for years, <a href=\"https://www.baltimoresun.com/2018/06/29/five-dead-in-targeted-attack-at-capital-gazette-newspaper-in-annapolis-police-say-laurel-man-charged-with-murder/\">according to the Sun</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"yn9f3\">It began in July 2011, when Capital columnist Eric Hartley wrote about how Ramos was charged with harassment after stalking and threatening a high school classmate online. In response to Hartley’s column, Ramos waged a one-man war against him and the paper, <a href=\"https://www.pilotonline.com/2018/06/28/annapolis-newspaper-shooting-suspect-harassed-virginian-pilot-editor-for-years-2/\">according to The Virginian-Pilot</a>, where Hartley now works.</p><p data-block-key=\"s0852\">In July 2012, he filed a defamation lawsuit against Hartley, Capital Gazette Communications, and The Capital editor and publisher Tom Marquardt. Ramos represented himself in the suit, which was filed in Prince George’s County, Maryland. At a March 2013 court hearing, a judge dismissed Ramos’ complaint with prejudice and tried to explain to Ramos why the article was not defamatory:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf#page=7\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"uswi1\">You know, I understand exactly how you feel. I think people who are the subject of newspaper articles, whoever they may be, feel that there is a requirement that they be placed in the best light, or they have an opportunity to have the story reported to their satisfaction, or have the opportunity to have however much input they believe is appropriate.</p><p data-block-key=\"jiqa5\">But that’s simply not true. There is nothing in those complaints that prove that anything that was published about you is, in fact, false. It all came from a public record. It was of the result of a criminal conviction. And it cannot give rise to a defamation suit.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf#page=7\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"69csq\">Transcript of March 29, 2013 motion hearing</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j5s8l\">Ramos appealed the judge’s decision. The Maryland Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's dismissal of the case and ordered Ramos to pay Capital Gazette’s legal fees. In an unpublished opinion, one of the appellate court judges wrote that “a discussion of defamation law would be an exercise in futility, because the appellant [Ramos] fails to come close to alleging a case of defamation,” and sharply criticized Ramos for bringing the lawsuit:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"vqr6n\">The appellant is pro se. A lawyer would almost certainly have told him not to proceed with this case. It reveals a fundamental failure to understand what defamation law is and, more particularly, what defamation law is not. The appellant is aggrieved because the newspaper story about his guilty plea assumed that he was guilty and that the guilty plea was, therefore, properly accepted. He is aggrieved because the story was sympathetic toward the harassment victim and was not equally understanding of the harassment perpetrator. The appellant wanted equal coverage of his side of the story. He wanted a chance to put the victim in a bad light, in order to justify and explain why he did what he did. That, however, is not the function of defamation law.</p><p data-block-key=\"d1x3l\">The appellant was charged with a criminal act. The appellant perpetrated a criminal act. The appellant plead guilty to having perpetrated a criminal act. The appellant was punished for his criminal act. He is not entitled to equal sympathy with his victim and may not blithely dismiss her as a “bipolar drunkard.” He does not appear to have learned his lesson.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"kd9re\">Unpublished appellate opinion</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"z7frz\">Ramos then tried to appeal to the state’s highest court, the Maryland Court of Appeals, which declined to hear his case.</p><p data-block-key=\"ak9iw\">Ramos also harassed The Capital and its reporters outside of the courtroom.</p><p data-block-key=\"9u8op\">According to the Sun, a Twitter account in Ramos’ name (which has since been suspended) tweeted threats against The Capital. The account, which has since been suspended, included photographs of Hartley and Marquardt, and alluded to the mass shooting of journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"vb4bc\">Marquardt, who served as The Capital’s editor and publisher until 2012, told the Sun that he had been concerned about Ramos’ obsessive hatred of the paper and whether it could escalate into violence.</p><p data-block-key=\"4d2zn\">“I was seriously concerned he would threaten us with physical violence,” he told the Sun. “I even told my wife, ‘We have to be concerned. This guy could really hurt us.’ ... I remember telling our attorneys, ‘This is a guy who is going to come in and shoot us.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"crha4\">Marquardt <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-newspaper-shooting-20180628-story.html\">told</a> the Los Angeles Times that when he notified the Anne Arundel County police about Ramos’ harassment back in 2013, the police said they could not arrest him for his behavior toward the newspaper. Marquardt said that the paper considered getting a restraining order against Ramos but worried about how Ramos would react.</p><p data-block-key=\"1rl8d\">“The theory back then was, ‘Let’s not infuriate him more than I have to.… The more you agitate this guy, the worse it’s gonna get,’” he told the Los Angeles Times.</p><p data-block-key=\"ln3xf\">William Shirley, an attorney who helped defend Capital Gazette against Ramos’ defamation suit, <a href=\"https://www.nydailynews.com/2018/06/28/jarrod-ramos-full-of-simmering-anger-says-lawyer-who-defended-capital-gazette-in-defamation-suit/\">told</a> the New York Daily News that Ramos threatened during a court hearing to assault Capital journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"61ia1\">“I remember at one point he was talking in a motion and somehow worked in how he wanted to smash Hartley’s face into the concrete,” Shirley said. “We were concerned at the time. He was not stable.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wjkw4\">On June 29, the day after the shooting, Ramos was charged with five counts of first-degree murder.</p><p data-block-key=\"7w6ef\">In the aftermath of the attack, Capital Gazette journalists worked with colleagues at the Sun to ensure that the next day’s paper would still be published.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow. <a href=\"https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R\">https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R</a></p>— Capital Gazette (@capgaznews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/capgaznews/status/1012549266492067840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 29, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"u9c7z\">The June 29 edition of The Capital includes a <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/2018/06/28/we-are-putting-out-a-damn-paper-tomorrow-capital-gazette-journalists-report-on-shooting-in-their-own-newsroom/\">front-page story</a> about the shooting, bylined by 10 Capital reporters, and obituaries for all five of the people killed in the shooting. The opinion page of the paper is empty, except for a single message: “Today, we are speechless ... 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.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "Editorial page editor Gerald Fischman, who had worked for the Capital Gazette for more than 25 years, was among those killed when a man armed with a shotgun entered the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 28, 2018.",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS1UEPS.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"5oekf\">Anne Arundel county executive Steve Schuh holds a copy of The Capital newspaper as he is interviewed the day after a gunman killed five people and injured several others at the newspaper’s offices in Annapolis, Maryland.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"detention_date": null,
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"case_number": "C-02-CV-21-000820",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Maryland",
"abbreviation": "MD"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-10-28 16:30:00+00:00) The Maryland man accused of massacring five staff members at the Capital Gazette newsroom last year enters guilty plea",
"(2021-07-15 15:30:00+00:00) Maryland man found criminally responsible for deaths of five in newsroom shooting",
"(2023-01-03 15:10:00+00:00) Survivors, families of slain journalists settle lawsuit against Capital Gazette’s parent company",
"(2021-09-28 11:09:00+00:00) Gunman who killed Capital Gazette journalists and staffer sentenced to multiple consecutive life sentences"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing",
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"tags": [
"killed",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Gerald Fischman (Capital Gazette)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
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},
{
"title": "Columnist killed in Capital Gazette newsroom shooting by man upset with newspaper coverage",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/columnist-killed-in-capital-gazette-newsroom-shooting-by-man-upset-with-newspaper-coverage/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-21T20:54:52.734284Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:57:42.858351Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:57:42.731547Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
"latitude": 38.97859,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"sktyr\">On June 28, 2018, a man armed with a shotgun entered the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, and shot multiple journalists and other media workers, the Baltimore Sun <a href=\"http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-gazette-shooting-20180628-story.html\">reported</a>. Five people, including four journalists, were killed in the attack, and two others were injured. Police later identified the suspected shooter as Jarrod Ramos, who had previously sued the Capital Gazette for defamation.</p><p data-block-key=\"sstqa\">Columnist and assistant editor <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/maryland/annapolis/bs-md-rob-hiaasen-20180628-story.html\">Rob Hiaasen</a>, who had worked for the Capital Gazette since 2010, was among those killed. Anne Arundel County police said that other Capital Gazette employees killed in the attack were:</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"v964j\">Gerald Fischman, editorial page editor</li><li data-block-key=\"lpkud\">John McNamara, community news and sports reporter</li><li data-block-key=\"q4t7f\">Wendi Winters, community news reporter and columnist</li><li data-block-key=\"bohex\">Rebecca Smith, advertising sales assistant</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"doe86\">Two other Capital Gazette employees, whose names were not released, were injured in the attack. Find the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s documentation of all the journalists killed in the attack <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette&tags=killed\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"y7v3i\">The shooting occurred on June 28 inside the Capital Gazette newsroom, which is located on the ground floor of an office building in Annapolis, Maryland. The newsroom is home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the most deadly attack on journalists in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"1of7s\">Phil Davis, a crime reporter for The Capital who was inside the newsroom during the shooting, told the Sun that he saw multiple colleagues shot. He said the scene inside the newsroom "was like a war zone." In a series of powerful tweets, he described what he witnessed.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead.</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421008597364742?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees. Can't say much more and don't want to declare anyone dead, but it's bad.</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421862402527232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012422058972676097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mwoln\">Jarrod Ramos, the suspect in the shooting, had threatened and harassed Capital Gazette staffers for years, <a href=\"http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ramos-search-20180628-story.html\">according to the Sun</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"tdmfq\">It began in July 2011, when Capital columnist Eric Hartley wrote about how Ramos was charged with harassment after stalking and threatening a high school classmate online. In response to Hartley's column, Ramos waged a one-man war against him and the paper, <a href=\"https://pilotonline.com/news/local/crime/article_56a204e6-7b39-11e8-8586-c75874de25c7.html\">according to The Virginian-Pilot</a>, where Hartley now works.</p><p data-block-key=\"3e22q\">In July 2012, he filed a defamation lawsuit against Hartley, Capital Gazette Communications, and The Capital editor and publisher Tom Marquardt. Ramos represented himself in the suit, which was filed in Prince George's County, Maryland. At a March 2013 court hearing, a judge dismissed Ramos' complaint with prejudice and tried to explain to Ramos why the article was not defamatory:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf#page=7\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"kzkwo\">You know, I understand exactly how you feel. I think people who are the subject of newspaper articles, whoever they may be, feel that there is a requirement that they be placed in the best light, or they have an opportunity to have the story reported to their satisfaction, or have the opportunity to have however much input they believe is appropriate.</p><p data-block-key=\"ntm5q\">But that's simply not true. There is nothing in those complaints that prove that anything that was published about you is, in fact, false. It all came from a public record. It was of the result of a criminal conviction. And it cannot give rise to a defamation suit.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf#page=7\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"1vfmj\">Transcript of March 29, 2013 motion hearing</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dx8ib\">Ramos appealed the judge's decision. The Maryland Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's dismissal of the case and ordered Ramos to pay Capital Gazette's legal fees. In an unpublished opinion, one of the appellate court judges wrote that "a discussion of defamation law would be an exercise in futility, because the appellant [Ramos] fails to come close to alleging a case of defamation," and sharply criticized Ramos for bringing the lawsuit:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"ttdnx\">The appellant is pro se. A lawyer would almost certainly have told him not to proceed with this case. It reveals a fundamental failure to understand what defamation law is and, more particularly, what defamation law is not. The appellant is aggrieved because the newspaper story about his guilty plea assumed that he was guilty and that the guilty plea was, therefore, properly accepted. He is aggrieved because the story was sympathetic toward the harassment victim and was not equally understanding of the harassment perpetrator. The appellant wanted equal coverage of his side of the story. He wanted a chance to put the victim in a bad light, in order to justify and explain why he did what he did. That, however, is not the function of defamation law.</p><p data-block-key=\"j341q\">The appellant was charged with a criminal act. The appellant perpetrated a criminal act. The appellant plead guilty to having perpetrated a criminal act. The appellant was punished for his criminal act. He is not entitled to equal sympathy with his victim and may not blithely dismiss her as a "bipolar drunkard." He does not appear to have learned his lesson.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"pdrec\">Unpublished appellate opinion</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3wujs\">Ramos then tried to appeal to the state's highest court, the Maryland Court of Appeals, which declined to hear his case.</p><p data-block-key=\"4j774\">Ramos also harassed The Capital and its reporters outside of the courtroom.</p><p data-block-key=\"8no7b\">According to the Sun, a Twitter account in Ramos' name tweeted threats against The Capital. The account, which has since been suspended, included photographs of Hartley and Marquardt, and alluded to the mass shooting of journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"0f111\">Marquardt, who served as The Capital's editor and publisher until 2012, told the Sun that he had been concerned about Ramos' obsessive hatred of the paper and whether it could escalate into violence.</p><p data-block-key=\"98gx4\">"I was seriously concerned he would threaten us with physical violence,” he told the Sun. “I even told my wife, 'We have to be concerned. This guy could really hurt us.' … I remember telling our attorneys, 'This is a guy who is going to come in and shoot us.'"</p><p data-block-key=\"vymev\">Marquardt told the Los Angeles Times that when he notified the Anne Arundel County police about Ramos' harassment back in 2013, the police said they could not arrest him for his behavior toward the newspaper. Marquardt said that the paper considered getting a restraining order against Ramos but worried about how Ramos would react.</p><p data-block-key=\"fwx2n\">"The theory back then was, 'Let’s not infuriate him more than I have to.… The more you agitate this guy, the worse it’s gonna get,'" he told the Los Angeles Times.</p><p data-block-key=\"y2kbf\">William Shirley, an attorney who helped defend Capital Gazette against Ramos' defamation suit, told the New York Daily News that Ramos threatened during a court hearing to assault Capital journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"f7mck\">"I remember at one point he was talking in a motion and somehow worked in how he wanted to smash Hartley’s face into the concrete," Shirley said. "We were concerned at the time. He was not stable."</p><p data-block-key=\"gnsuy\">On June 29, the day after the shooting, Ramos was charged with five counts of first-degree murder.</p><p data-block-key=\"g1d5e\">In the aftermath of the attack, Capital Gazette journalists worked with colleagues at the Sun to ensure that the next day's paper would still be published.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow. <a href=\"https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R\">https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R</a></p>— Capital Gazette (@capgaznews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/capgaznews/status/1012549266492067840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 29, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"p7xg0\">The June 29 edition of The Capital includes a front-page story about the shooting, bylined by 10 Capital reporters, and obituaries for all five of the people killed in the shooting. The opinion page of the paper is empty, except for a single message: "Today, we are speechless … Tomorrow this page will return to its steady purpose of offering our readers informed opinions about the world around them, that they might be better citizens."</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "Columnist and assistant editor Rob Hiaasen, who had worked for the Capital Gazette since 2010, was among those killed when a man armed with a shotgun entered the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 28, 2018.",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS1UEPS.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"eyb3p\">Anne Arundel county executive Steve Schuh holds a copy of The Capital newspaper during an interview the day after a gunman killed five people and injured several others at the newspaper's offices in Annapolis, Maryland.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "C-02-CV-21-000820",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"stopped_previously": false,
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"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Maryland",
"abbreviation": "MD"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-07-15 00:00:00+00:00) Maryland man found criminally responsible for deaths of five in newsroom shooting",
"(2023-01-03 15:14:00+00:00) Survivors, families of slain journalists settle lawsuit against Capital Gazette’s parent company",
"(2021-09-28 00:00:00+00:00) Gunman who killed Capital Gazette journalists and staffer sentenced to multiple consecutive life sentences",
"(2019-10-28 00:00:00+00:00) The Maryland man accused of massacring five staff members at the Capital Gazette newsroom last year enters guilty plea"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing",
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"killed",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Rob Hiaasen (Capital Gazette)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Community news reporter killed in Capital Gazette newsroom shooting by man upset with newspaper coverage",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/community-news-reporter-killed-in-capital-gazette-newsroom-shooting-by-man-upset-with-newspaper-coverage/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-21T21:01:43.524055Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:58:11.015043Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:58:10.856961Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
"latitude": 38.97859,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qrfka\">On June 28, 2018, a man armed with a shotgun entered the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, and shot multiple journalists and other media workers, the Baltimore Sun <a href=\"http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-gazette-shooting-20180628-story.html\">reported</a>. Five people, including four journalists, were killed in the attack, and two others were injured. Police later identified the suspected shooter as Jarrod Ramos, who had previously sued the Capital Gazette for defamation.</p><p data-block-key=\"umuku\">Community news reporter and columnist <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/maryland/annapolis/bs-md-wendi-winters-20180628-story.html\">Wendi Winters</a>, who had written for the Capital Gazette for 20 years, was among those killed. Anne Arundel County police said that other Capital Gazette employees killed in the attack were:</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"hx34c\">Rob Hiaasen, columnist and assistant editor</li><li data-block-key=\"810yx\">Gerald Fischman, editorial page editor</li><li data-block-key=\"vep15\">John McNamara, community news and sports reporter</li><li data-block-key=\"ehza2\">Rebecca Smith, advertising sales assistant</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"5kyuo\">Two other Capital Gazette employees, whose names were not released, were injured in the attack. Find the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s documentation of all the journalists killed in the attack <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette&tags=killed\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"cij42\">The shooting occurred on June 28 inside the Capital Gazette newsroom, which is located on the ground floor of an office building in Annapolis, Maryland. The newsroom is home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the most deadly attack on journalists in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"p4hu6\">Phil Davis, a crime reporter for The Capital who was inside the newsroom during the shooting, told the Sun that he saw multiple colleagues shot. He said the scene inside the newsroom "was like a war zone." In a series of powerful tweets, he described what he witnessed.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead.</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421008597364742?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees. Can't say much more and don't want to declare anyone dead, but it's bad.</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421862402527232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012422058972676097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"iu15s\">Jarrod Ramos, the suspect in the shooting, had threatened and harassed Capital Gazette staffers for years, <a href=\"http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ramos-search-20180628-story.html\">according to the Sun</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"46s8p\">It began in July 2011, when Capital columnist Eric Hartley wrote about how Ramos was charged with harassment after stalking and threatening a high school classmate online. In response to Hartley's column, Ramos waged a one-man war against him and the paper, <a href=\"https://pilotonline.com/news/local/crime/article_56a204e6-7b39-11e8-8586-c75874de25c7.html\">according to The Virginian-Pilot</a>, where Hartley now works.</p><p data-block-key=\"pn7fr\">In July 2012, he filed a defamation lawsuit against Hartley, Capital Gazette Communications, and The Capital editor and publisher Tom Marquardt. Ramos represented himself in the suit, which was filed in Prince George's County, Maryland. At a March 2013 court hearing, a judge dismissed Ramos' complaint with prejudice and tried to explain to Ramos why the article was not defamatory:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf#page=7\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"qxd5u\">You know, I understand exactly how you feel. I think people who are the subject of newspaper articles, whoever they may be, feel that there is a requirement that they be placed in the best light, or they have an opportunity to have the story reported to their satisfaction, or have the opportunity to have however much input they believe is appropriate.</p><p data-block-key=\"u67wt\">But that's simply not true. There is nothing in those complaints that prove that anything that was published about you is, in fact, false. It all came from a public record. It was of the result of a criminal conviction. And it cannot give rise to a defamation suit.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf#page=7\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"5ew5z\">Transcript of March 29, 2013 motion hearing</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dxhzk\">Ramos appealed the judge's decision. The Maryland Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's dismissal of the case and ordered Ramos to pay Capital Gazette's legal fees. In an unpublished opinion, one of the appellate court judges wrote that "a discussion of defamation law would be an exercise in futility, because the appellant [Ramos] fails to come close to alleging a case of defamation," and sharply criticized Ramos for bringing the lawsuit:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"lpudm\">The appellant is pro se. A lawyer would almost certainly have told him not to proceed with this case. It reveals a fundamental failure to understand what defamation law is and, more particularly, what defamation law is not. The appellant is aggrieved because the newspaper story about his guilty plea assumed that he was guilty and that the guilty plea was, therefore, properly accepted. He is aggrieved because the story was sympathetic toward the harassment victim and was not equally understanding of the harassment perpetrator. The appellant wanted equal coverage of his side of the story. He wanted a chance to put the victim in a bad light, in order to justify and explain why he did what he did. That, however, is not the function of defamation law.</p><p data-block-key=\"bxbl1\">The appellant was charged with a criminal act. The appellant perpetrated a criminal act. The appellant plead guilty to having perpetrated a criminal act. The appellant was punished for his criminal act. He is not entitled to equal sympathy with his victim and may not blithely dismiss her as a "bipolar drunkard." He does not appear to have learned his lesson.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"uklzr\">Unpublished appellate opinion</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"o6gpv\">Ramos then tried to appeal to the state's highest court, the Maryland Court of Appeals, which declined to hear his case.</p><p data-block-key=\"3em45\">Ramos also harassed The Capital and its reporters outside of the courtroom.</p><p data-block-key=\"mvt8m\">According to the Sun, a Twitter account in Ramos' name tweeted threats against The Capital. The account, which has since been suspended, included photographs of Hartley and Marquardt, and alluded to the mass shooting of journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"whdmc\">Marquardt, who served as The Capital's editor and publisher until 2012, told the Sun that he had been concerned about Ramos' obsessive hatred of the paper and whether it could escalate into violence.</p><p data-block-key=\"hc3i9\">"I was seriously concerned he would threaten us with physical violence,” he told the Sun. “I even told my wife, 'We have to be concerned. This guy could really hurt us.' … I remember telling our attorneys, 'This is a guy who is going to come in and shoot us.'"</p><p data-block-key=\"q06j9\">Marquardt told the Los Angeles Times that when he notified the Anne Arundel County police about Ramos' harassment back in 2013, the police said they could not arrest him for his behavior toward the newspaper. Marquardt said that the paper considered getting a restraining order against Ramos but worried about how Ramos would react.</p><p data-block-key=\"hohsj\">"The theory back then was, 'Let’s not infuriate him more than I have to.… The more you agitate this guy, the worse it’s gonna get,'" he told the Los Angeles Times.</p><p data-block-key=\"gtbl3\">William Shirley, an attorney who helped defend Capital Gazette against Ramos' defamation suit, told the New York Daily News that Ramos threatened during a court hearing to assault Capital journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"7jbly\">"I remember at one point he was talking in a motion and somehow worked in how he wanted to smash Hartley’s face into the concrete," Shirley said. "We were concerned at the time. He was not stable."</p><p data-block-key=\"ifa1c\">On June 29, the day after the shooting, Ramos was charged with five counts of first-degree murder.</p><p data-block-key=\"1r09p\">In the aftermath of the attack, Capital Gazette journalists worked with colleagues at the Sun to ensure that the next day's paper would still be published.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow. <a href=\"https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R\">https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R</a></p>— Capital Gazette (@capgaznews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/capgaznews/status/1012549266492067840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 29, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ktexc\">The June 29 edition of The Capital includes a front-page story about the shooting, bylined by 10 Capital reporters, and obituaries for all five of the people killed in the shooting. The opinion page of the paper is empty, except for a single message: "Today, we are speechless … Tomorrow this page will return to its steady purpose of offering our readers informed opinions about the world around them, that they might be better citizens."</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "Community news reporter and columnist Wendi Winters, who had written for the Capital Gazette for 20 years, was among those killed when a man armed with a shotgun entered the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 28, 2018.",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS1UEPS.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1hzgm\">Anne Arundel county executive Steve Schuh holds a copy of The Capital newspaper during an interview the day after a gunman killed five people and injured several others at the newspaper's offices in Annapolis, Maryland.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "C-02-CV-21-000820",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Maryland",
"abbreviation": "MD"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-10-28 00:00:00+00:00) The Maryland man accused of massacring five staff members at the Capital Gazette newsroom last year enters guilty plea",
"(2021-07-15 00:00:00+00:00) Maryland man found criminally responsible for deaths of five in newsroom shooting",
"(2023-01-03 15:14:00+00:00) Survivors, families of slain journalists settle lawsuit against Capital Gazette’s parent company",
"(2021-09-28 00:00:00+00:00) Gunman who killed Capital Gazette journalists and staffer sentenced to multiple consecutive life sentences"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing",
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"killed",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Wendi Winters (Capital Gazette)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photographer shot at while fleeing Capital Gazette newsroom gunman",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-shot-at-while-fleeing-capital-gazette-newsroom-gunman/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-15T19:50:44.638964Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:58:27.155793Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:58:27.074721Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
"latitude": 38.97859,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9aasb\"><i>Editor’s Note: In January 2023, families of victims and some of the survivors of the 2018 Capital Gazette newsroom shooting dismissed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit after reaching a settlement agreement. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is updating its Assault category documentation to include the five journalists who were plaintiffs in the suit and present during the attack.</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette&tags=killed\"><i>Four journalists</i></a><i> and one newsroom employee were killed.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"c1tgo\">Photojournalist Paul W. Gillespie was working in the Capital Gazette offices on June 28, 2018, when a man armed with a shotgun entered the newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, shortly after 2:30 p.m. and shot multiple newspaper employees.</p><p data-block-key=\"a63bs\">Gillespie, who did not respond to requests for comment in early 2023, said at the time he had just finished editing photos from an assignment when he heard gunshots. He <a href=\"https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-gazette-shooting-20180628-story.html\">told The Baltimore Sun</a> he heard a crash as the newsroom’s glass doors shattered. He quickly curled up under a coworker’s desk to hide.</p><p data-block-key=\"9dae0\">“I dove under that desk as fast as I could, and by the grace of God, he didn’t look over there,” he said. “I was curled up, trying not to breathe, trying not to make a sound, and he shot people all around me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"a5csn\">The gunman walked past Gillespie’s hiding place and continued shooting. When there was a lull in the shots, Gillespie said he stood and ran for the front door; he jumped over the body of a colleague and through the broken glass as the gunman shot in his direction.</p><p data-block-key=\"8c5b9\">Gillespie then ran to a nearby bank where he told people to call 911.</p><p data-block-key=\"eh3sd\">Gillespie <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AvajoyeWJZ/status/1413500600743047172\">later testified</a> that he felt the gunman’s shot pass by him. "I heard another gunshot go off, and I felt a breeze go past my head.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bnvnd\">The gunman called police at 2:38 p.m., saying that he was done shooting and that he would surrender, <a href=\"https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/07/08/prosecution-begins-making-case-for-prison-sentence-for-capital-gazette-shooter/\">according to Maryland Matters</a>. Officers entered the Capital Gazette offices at 2:44 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"1fvqs\">Of the 11 Capital Gazette employees in the newsroom during the shooting, five were killed and two injured. All journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette\">killed in or present for the attack</a> are documented in the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s Assault category.</p><p data-block-key=\"3gm6s\">The ground-floor newsroom of the Capital Gazette was home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the deadliest single attack on journalists in United States history, <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2018/06/alleged-killer-of-capital-gazette-employees-had-ma/\">according to the Committee to Protect Journalists</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"5tr3a\">The gunman was convicted on 23 counts in July 2021, the Capital Gazette <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/crime/ac-cn-capital-gazette-shooting-trial-day-12-20210715-jyvoqd2czve63ar3pgo7ub7qim-story.html\">reported</a>. He was sentenced on Sept. 28, 2021, to five life sentences without the possibility of parole, a life sentence for the attempted murder of Gillespie and an additional 345 years in prison, all to be served consecutively.</p><p data-block-key=\"8jbs8\">In announcing the sentence, Judge Michael Wachs said the defendant was getting what he deserved. “To say the defendant showed a callous and cruel disregard for the sanctity of human life is simply an understatement,” Wachs said.</p><p data-block-key=\"d2knr\">Gillespie <a href=\"https://www.wbaltv.com/article/jarrod-ramos-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-without-the-possibility-of-parole/37764491\">told reporters</a> outside the courthouse that he was happy the trial was over, but that he doesn’t think he’ll ever have closure.</p><p data-block-key=\"c1eq4\">“I lost five of my family members,” he said. “I was almost killed myself. It’s something that haunts me every day.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5mmnn\">In June 2021, the families of victims and five of the six survivors filed lawsuits against the Sun and Tribune Publishing, The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/legal-proceedings-crime-lawsuits-annapolis-shootings-642be45d73aa5b6701feb73c9c3ab942\">reported</a>. (The Capital was purchased by Baltimore Sun Media, a subsidiary of Tribune Publishing, in 2014.)</p><p data-block-key=\"bogo6\">The suits — one for wrongful death, the other for negligence — both argued that the shooting was preventable. The negligence lawsuit said that if “reasonable steps” had been taken, the gunman “would have been detected and stopped prior to entering The Capital’s newsroom, and he may never have attempted the assault at all.” The cases were consolidated in early 2022, according to the AP.</p><p data-block-key=\"5jbh1\">The parties reached a settlement agreement and filed a joint motion for dismissal on Jan. 3, 2023. An attorney for some of the plaintiffs told the AP that the details of the settlement are confidential. Gillespie did not respond to requests for comment at the time.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"78vy9\">Capital Gazette photographer Paul Gillespie, center left in hat, stands with his wife, colleagues and families of victims during a vigil held on June 29, 2018, the day after a gunman killed five people inside the newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland.</p>",
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"Paul W. Gillespie (Capital Gazette)"
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{
"title": "Federal judge quashes subpoena of Indiana newspaper’s communications",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/federal-judge-quashes-subpoena-indiana-newspapers-communications/",
"first_published_at": "2019-03-05T17:41:17.242057Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-03-31T22:45:02.697033Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-03-31T22:45:02.591712Z",
"date": "2018-06-27",
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"city": "Elkhart",
"longitude": -85.97667,
"latitude": 41.68199,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vh2p8\">A federal judge rejected the attempt of the city of Elkhart, Indiana, to force the South Bend Tribune to turn over records of its reporting on an Illinois man who is <a href=\"https://apnews.com/cd9d1f8687f34c5ab825dd870aa0bdae\">suing</a> the city for wrongful conviction.</p><p data-block-key=\"020ak\">U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Michael Gotsch ruled on Feb. 26 that the city’s subpoena and allegations of conspiracy were “misplaced.”</p><p data-block-key=\"r5pw6\">The subpoena was issued on June 27, 2018, amid an <a href=\"https://features.propublica.org/south-bend/wrongful-conviction-pardon-keith-cooper-christopher-parish-indiana-elkhart-police/\">investigation</a> by The Tribune and ProPublica into the conviction of Keith Cooper in a 1996 robbery and shooting. Cooper was pardoned in February 2017 following new DNA evidence and a witness recanting testimony.</p><p data-block-key=\"d5qau\">The city sought communications between Tribune journalists, Cooper and Cooper’s lawyer, alleging that The Tribune was biased and conspiring with Cooper to advance his lawsuit against the city.</p><p data-block-key=\"ayg37\">In his order quashing the subpoena, Gotsch wrote that the text messages and emails Cooper’s lawyer turned over as evidence before the Court did not support the city’s accusations of conspiracy, The Tribune <a href=\"https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/publicsafety/judge-rejects-city-of-elkhart-s-subpoena-seeking-records-from/article_da2db620-4f38-5727-a680-3ee8a15a2cf4.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"rpyic\">“The City cites… examples of communications that it interprets as evidence of conspiracy,” Gotsch wrote, “when they simply reflect a reporter doing what a reporter does—pursuing sources with information about the story, identifying inconsistencies in a story and confronting the relevant characters with that information, giving both sides to a story a chance to be heard.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rnidy\">To the city’s complaints that the newspaper was biased in its coverage, Gotsch noted that the views of city and police officers named in the suit were not represented because they declined to speak to reporters.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"leg9f\">A portion of the order quashing a subpoena seeking reporting records from the South Bend Tribune.</p>",
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"name": "Indiana",
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{
"title": "DHS agents interrupt CBS News interview with ICE whistleblower",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dhs-agents-interrupt-cbs-news-interview-ice-whistleblower/",
"first_published_at": "2018-08-28T16:37:39.309426Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-06T20:18:06.197839Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-06T20:18:06.115383Z",
"date": "2018-06-27",
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"city": "San Francisco",
"longitude": -122.41942,
"latitude": 37.77493,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"knzf5\">Federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s Office interrupted a CBS News interviewer with ICE whistleblower James Schwab, on June 27, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"odue\">The June 27 interview was conducted at Schwab’s home near San Francisco. It was the first time that Schwab, the former spokesman for ICE, had spoken publicly since <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/12/politics/ice-spokesman-resigns-san-francisco/index.html\">abruptly resigning</a> from the agency in March. </p><p data-block-key=\"sbqj8\">Schwab said in the interview that he was compelled to quit his job after ICE asked him to “lie” to journalists about Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf, who upset ICE after she warned her constituents about an ICE raid.</p><p data-block-key=\"80p21\">As CBS News reporter Jamie Yuccas was interviewing Schwab about the circumstances surrounding his resignation, agents from the DHS Inspector General’s Office unexpectedly <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/former-ice-spokesman-james-schwab-opens-up-about-resignation-trump-administration/\">arrived at his home</a> and asked to speak with him. The agents refused to speak to Yuccas, other than to say that the reason for their visit was confidential.</p><p data-block-key=\"iis4m\">“They just said that they want to talk with me about the leak with the Oakland mayor,” Schwab told CBS News after the agents left.</p><p data-block-key=\"8lfyj\">Schwab believes that the unannounced visit from DHS agents was meant to intimidate him.</p><p data-block-key=\"mwbn7\">“This is intimidation, and this is why people won’t come out and speak against the government,” he told CBS News.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">WATCH: Our interview with former <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ICEgov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ICEgov</a> spokesperson James Schwab was interrupted by a surprise visit from government agents.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/jamieyuccas?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JamieYuccas</a> reports ➡️ <a href=\"https://t.co/QlDGflrdP4\">https://t.co/QlDGflrdP4</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/4shmAqutD8\">pic.twitter.com/4shmAqutD8</a></p>— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CBSThisMorning/status/1012304715693031424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"565r5\">A screengrab from a CBS News video shows two DHS agents interrupting an interview between CBS News correspondent Jamie Yuccas (left) and former ICE spokesman James Schwab (right).</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
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"tags": [
"ICE",
"immigration"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jamie Yuccas (CBS News)"
],
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},
{
"title": "New York Times reporter subpoenaed to testify in murder trial",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-york-times-reporter-subpoenaed-testify-murder-trial/",
"first_published_at": "2018-07-06T19:22:24.874222Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-19T21:09:34.616601Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-19T21:09:34.450836Z",
"date": "2018-06-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"12ho4\">In 2016, New York Times reporter Frances Robles was subpoenaed to testify in the murder trial of Conrado Juárez, whom Robles interviewed in jail in 2013. Robles fought the subpoenas, but the New York Court of Appeals — the highest court in the state — upheld the subpoenas on a technicality in a ruling on June 27, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"2fudl\">If Robles refuses to comply with the subpoena, she could be held in contempt of court and put in jail.</p><p data-block-key=\"corsj\">In October 2013, Robles conducted a jailhouse interview with Juárez, who had been charged with the murder of “Baby Hope,” a 4 year old found dead in a picnic cooler in 1991. Although Juárez had confessed to the murder to police, he told Robles that police had coerced him into confessing. The day after the interview, the Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/nyregion/baby-hope-reporter-testify.html\">reported</a> that Juárez claimed that his confession to police had been coerced.</p><p data-block-key=\"elgp6\">In early 2016, Robles was subpoenaed to testify about her interview with Juárez and to hand over her reporter’s notes from the interview. Robles was subpoenaed to testify at a pre-trial hearing to determine admissibility of Juárez’s statements to law enforcement.</p><p data-block-key=\"2dje5\">Robles moved to quash the subpoenas.</p><p data-block-key=\"c5a6t\">According to the New York State Constitution, a reporter can only be compelled to disclose nonconfidential information if it is “critical or necessary” to the case and not available from any other source.</p><p data-block-key=\"bs2ir\">On April 13, 2016, the court quashed the subpoena, ruling that Robles’ testimony was not “critical or necessary” to the pretrial hearing because the prosecution already had a videotape of Juárez’s confession and access to the police and prosecutor that obtained it. The court also noted that compelling Robles’ testimony would open the door to lines of questioning beyond published material during cross examination.</p><p data-block-key=\"f8k28\">After the pretrial hearing, the prosecution tried to subpoena Robles to testify during Juárez’s criminal trial. Robles again moved to quash the subpoenas, but this time, the trial court ruled against her. In August 2016, the trial court formally upheld the subpoenas, ruling that her testimony was “critical or necessary” to the case that the prosecution wanted to make about Juárez’s confession during the trial.</p><p data-block-key=\"c1jig\">Robles immediately appealed the trial court’s decision. In October 2016, the First Department appeals court reversed the trial court’s decision, finding that the prosecution had not shown that Robles’ testimony was so “critical or necessary” that it could override her reporter’s privilege not to testify about her sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"1v9fq\">The prosecution then asked the New York Court of Appeals to review the First Department appeals court’s decision, and the Court of Appeals agreed to do so.</p><p data-block-key=\"9dabb\">The prosecution wanted the Court of Appeals to find that Robles’ testimony was in fact “critical or necessary” to the case and the First Department appeals court was wrong to reverse the trial court’s original decision forcing Robles to testify. Robles’ attorneys wanted the Court of Appeals to uphold the First Department appeals court’s decision and ensure that journalists in New York state cannot be compelled to testify in court about her conversations with sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"39f71\">Incarcerated sources wouldn’t speak with journalists, Robles’ attorneys argued, if they believed a reporter could be forced to testify about what was said.</p><p data-block-key=\"2un4c\">“Permitting prosecutors to enforce subpoenas like the one in this case would ‘fundamentally diminish’ Ms. Robles’s ‘practical ability to gather the news…’ and would in turn diminish the public’s knowledge about claims of mistreatment by indigent individuals caught up in the criminal justice system,” Robles’ legal team wrote in a brief to the appellate court.</p><p data-block-key=\"6i08r\">In the end, the Court of Appeals did not rule on whether or not Robles’ testimony was necessary to the case. Instead, in a controversial 4-3 decision, it ruled that Robles was not technically allowed to appeal the trial court’s original decision, so the First Department appeals court’s ruling was completely moot.</p><p data-block-key=\"7j9cv\">The Court of Appeals did not actually say that the trial court’s decision to uphold the subpoenas was correct, just that Robles was not allowed to appeal it.</p><p data-block-key=\"31vdd\">But it hardly matters to Robles. Since she’s not allowed to appeal the trial court’s decision to uphold the subpoenas ordering to testify, that decision stands.</p><p data-block-key=\"8egtq\">If she refuses to testify, the trial court could find her in contempt of court and order her jailed until she agrees to testify.</p><p data-block-key=\"901t7\">The Reporters Committee for Freedom of Press — a partner organization of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — criticized the Court of Appeals decision.</p><p data-block-key=\"9i3be\">“The protections of a shield law are meaningless unless a reporter can appeal an erroneous trial court ruling,” RCFP Executive Director Bruce Brown <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/reporters-committee-statement-new-york-court-appeals-ruling-journalist-frances-robles-has-no-right-a\">said in a statement</a>. “Today’s decision leaves important substantive protections for journalists under New York law without the means to enforce them. A reporter should not have to risk going to jail for contempt in order to trigger appellate review of her rights.”</p></div>",
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"name": "New York",
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"(2018-11-18 00:00:00+00:00) Subpoena for Times reporter’s trial testimony made moot by defendant’s death"
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{
"title": "Local TV photographer attacked by stranger in Miami Beach",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/local-tv-photographer-attacked-by-stranger-in-miami-beach/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-22T13:49:27.308047Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-10-22T13:49:27.308047Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-10-22T13:49:27.269900Z",
"date": "2018-06-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Miami Beach",
"longitude": -80.13005,
"latitude": 25.79065,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>On June 26, 2018, photographer Linda Sargent-Nestor and reporter Darryl Forges of Florida TV station WTVJ were attacked by a stranger during a morning live shoot in Miami Beach, Florida.</p><p>“It’s been a wild day, but overall my photographer Linda Sargent-Nestor and I are ok,” Forges wrote in <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/darrylforges/posts/10156535622943308\">a Facebook post</a> a few hours after the attack. “We were attacked by a crazy stranger in Miami Beach this morning while doing our live shot.” </p><p>“Special thanks to Miami Beach PD for responding quickly, and also to two complete strangers who helped,” he said.</p><p>Forges wrote that his glasses were broken in the attack, which left him with minor bruises, scratches and bite marks.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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"name": "Florida",
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"categories": [
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"Linda Sargent-Nestor (WTVJ)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Local TV reporter attacked by unknown person in Miami Beach",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/local-tv-reporter-attacked-by-unknown-person-in-miami-beach/",
"first_published_at": "2018-10-11T20:37:13.536150Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T19:33:16.503678Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T19:33:16.405330Z",
"date": "2018-06-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Miami Beach",
"longitude": -80.13005,
"latitude": 25.79065,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4akjl\">On June 26, 2018, reporter Darryl Forges and photographer Linda Sargent-Nestor of Florida TV station WTVJ were <a href=\"https://www.adweek.com/tvspy/morning-reporter-and-photographer-ok-after-being-attacked/205433\">attacked</a> by a stranger during a morning live shoot in Miami Beach, Florida.</p><p data-block-key=\"g1an4\">“It’s been a wild day, but overall my photographer Linda Sargent-Nestor and I are ok,” Forges wrote in a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/darrylforges/posts/10156535622943308\">Facebook post</a> a few hours after the attack. “We were attacked by a crazy stranger in Miami Beach this morning while doing our live shot.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dxg1b\">“Special thanks to Miami Beach PD for responding quickly, and also to two complete strangers who helped,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ufi39\">Forges wrote that his glasses were broken in the attack, which left him with minor bruises, scratches and bite marks.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "City councilman threatens local reporter with dog in California",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/city-councilman-threatens-local-reporter-dog-california/",
"first_published_at": "2018-08-02T19:29:29.106700Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T19:39:19.047893Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T19:39:18.958352Z",
"date": "2018-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "El Cajon",
"longitude": -116.96253,
"latitude": 32.79477,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"slsvd\">El Cajon City Councilman Ben Kalasho threatened East County Magazine reporter Paul Kruze and menaced the journalist with an aggressive dog, according to a <a href=\"http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/sites/eastcountymagazine.org/files/2018/July/KruzePoliceStatement_v3.pdf?227\">statement</a> that Kruze made to police in El Cajon, California, on June 23, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"q7xc5\">Kruze <a href=\"http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/sd-me-kalasho-concerns-20180706-story.html\">told</a> the police that he was exiting a Best Buy on June 23 when he spotted Kalasho’s election vehicle in the parking lot and stopped to take photos.</p><p data-block-key=\"vwndp\">Kruze told the police that Kalasho told him to stop taking pictures, and then approached him with an attack dog. Kruze said that Kalasho and the dog advanced on him from 40 feet away to within 10 to 12 feet, before he was able to unlock his car door and enter the safety of his vehicle.</p><p data-block-key=\"9g2jv\">“I proceed to my car and he keeps coming closer to me with the dog and letting the dog lurch at me,” Kruze said in an interview with Freedom of the Press Foundation, adding that he feared Kalasho might release the chain on the dog and let it attack him.</p><p data-block-key=\"q12p5\">“This is stuff you go to see horror movies about,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ahua4\">During the incident, he said, Kalasho called him a fake journalist and verbally threatened both him and East County Magazine editor Miriam Raftery. Raftery told Freedom of the Press Foundation that Kruze called her shortly after the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"h4cy5\">“When Paul called me, his voice was trembling and he was obviously terrified,” she said. “I was worried about his safety and my own, especially since Paul said Kalasho told him, with the dog snarling lunging toward him, ‘I’m going to take you down and that bitch, Miriam Raftery.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"l86ad\">On June 24, the day after the parking lot incident, Kalasho published a Facebook post about Kruze, whom he described as a “deranged psychopath” and “lunatic” who was stalking him.</p><p data-block-key=\"o6sws\">“I did research and found that this so called journalist made a Youtube channel whereby most all of his videos are about me,” Kalasho wrote in the post, which was later deleted. “He even posted a video of me training my dog, and other montage videos of me speaking ranging different dates. This infatuation he has with me is creepy to say the least.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bayh5\">Kalasho wrote that he had contacted the police and planned to seek a restraining order against the journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"zsmmr\">A number of Kalasho’s supporters commented on the Facebook post, expressing concern for the councilman’s safety. Some encouraged Kalasho to use violence against Kruze.</p><p data-block-key=\"s87p2\">“You should get your CCW [concealed carry license],” one commenter wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"64hlq\">“Once you become a public figure, you lose most of your rights,” Kalasho replied. “Trust me, had I had a CCW, I would have been on CNN today doing interviews from behind bars.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4pult\">Another supporter published a photo of a gun, accompanied by the text, “I would much rather go my grave never needing my gun, than go there wishing I had it.” Kalasho replied, “#Truth.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ye45i\">Kruze said that it was scary to see Kalasho encouraging supporters’ violent threats against him.</p><p data-block-key=\"m67va\">“He just kept on inciting these different followers of his, and then the people started posting,” Kruze said. “There were people saying you should go after this guy. Then they started posting pictures of guns, and then it ended up with another guy who was an optometrist in Ramona, California, suggesting that a .357 caliber bullet be used on me,” Kruze said. “I’ll tell you that finally, that particular post, and the whole Facebook post, it finally hit me. It hit me… All the sudden this is what people talk about for real, and that is damn scary.”</p><p data-block-key=\"70pgo\">On July 10, Kalasho went after Kruze again, this time in a <a href=\"https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2018/jul/17/stringers-reporter-accuse-kalasho-assaulting-dog/\">Facebook video</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"tby4x\">In the video, Kalasho says that he threatened Kruze with his dog because he thought Kruze might be carrying a weapon.</p><p data-block-key=\"e7kwu\">“Looking at this person that was approaching my wife and I, like, I don’t know him from Adam,” Kalasho says in the video. “I don’t know if he had a knife, or a gun or anything on him. And every cue and everything that he did lead me to believe that he was going to inflict harm to me or my family. So I used my dog. And anybody listening, watching this just play it through, what’s the alternative? The alternative is having my wife hurt? No, I’d rather my dog maul him, like literally.”</p><p data-block-key=\"l4ug1\">On July 13, the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists issued a statement, defending the rights of journalists and calling on the El Cajon Police Department to fully investigate the attack:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"https://spjsandiego.org/2018/07/13/sd-spj-concerned-by-el-cajon-city-councilmans-interaction-with-journalist/\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"mcjtt\">The San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is greatly concerned by the behavior of El Cajon City Councilman Ben Kalasho toward East County Magazine reporter Paul Kruze, as alleged in Kruze’s statements to the police. Threatening or intimidating journalists is unacceptable behavior from any member of the public — but especially from elected officials.</p><p data-block-key=\"go3th\">Journalists have a right to do their jobs without fear of violence. We urge the El Cajon Police Department to fully investigate the incident that took place on June 23 between Councilman Kalasho and Mr. Kruze. Our institutions and elected officials must do everything they can to ensure the safety of journalists in the exercise of our collective First Amendment right to a free press.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"https://spjsandiego.org/2018/07/13/sd-spj-concerned-by-el-cajon-city-councilmans-interaction-with-journalist/\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"5kvyx\">San Diego SPJ statement on incident</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xn3uf\">Kalasho has a history of threatening East County Magazine. In November 2017, after the paper wrote about allegations of corruption and sexual harassment made against him, he threatened a libel suit against East County Magazine and then tried to smear the publication on social media.</p><p data-block-key=\"5bxrv\">On July 18, the San Diego SPJ chapter presented Raftery and Kruze with the <a href=\"http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/ecm-editor-and-reporter-win-gloria-penner-award-reporting-kalasho-threats\">Gloria Penner Award</a> for political reporting, in recognition of East County Magazine’s investigative reporting on Kalasho.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
{
"title": "DHS press secretary asks journalist to stop reporting on him",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dhs-press-secretary-asks-journalist-stop-reporting-him/",
"first_published_at": "2018-06-20T22:36:59.602301Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-25T19:44:50.781110Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-25T19:44:50.650643Z",
"date": "2018-06-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"49lig\">On June 20, 2018, Ken Klippenstein — an investigative reporter who contributes to The Daily Beast and The Young Turks — tweeted that he had received an unsolicited call from Tyler Houlton, the press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. Klippenstein said that Houlton asked him about his sources and also asked him not to solicit tips about Houlton on Twitter.</p><p data-block-key=\"lw1u7\">On the afternoon of June 20, Klippenstein tweeted that he had heard troubling allegations about Houlton, and requested that anyone contact him with information. (Though Klippenstein originally identified Houlton as a spokesman for Immigration & Customs Enforcement, he later clarified that Houlton is the spokesman for all of DHS, not just ICE.)</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Also I’m hearing some troubling allegations about ICE’s spokesman (unable to verify yet), if anyone has any tips please text me</p>— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/1009506577735471105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 20, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1aqzc\">About an hour later, Klippenstein tweeted that Houlton had called him.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">DHS' spokesman, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SpoxDHS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SpoxDHS</a>, just called me and demanded I stop soliciting tips about him via Twitter. He also asked who my sources are. <br><br>Why does it feel like this admin hates freedom of the press.</p>— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/1009521525949652992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 20, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"rykcy\">Klippenstein told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he received a call from a Washington, D.C. phone number that he did not recognize. The caller identified himself as Houlton and then told Klippenstein that if Klippenstein “had something” on him, then Klippenstein should call him rather than asking for tips on Twitter.</p><p data-block-key=\"kovwi\">According to Klippenstein, he told Houlton that he was a reporter and seeking tips is what reporters do. Houlton then asked who was telling him information about Houlton, and he told Houlton that he cannot reveal his sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"93m39\">“When you get a call like that… papers need certain relationships with administrators to get information,” Klippenstein said, adding that his job and lack of dependents allows him to take more professional risks than other journalists. “A lot of reporters would understandably be afraid of upsetting their boss, and I think it would have a chilling effect on reporting. This has concrete effects. It’s not just an unpleasant interaction.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qxboc\">Klippenstein said that he could not think of any situation in which he would reveal the identity of a confidential source.</p><p data-block-key=\"t2vcq\">“Absolutely not,” he said. “I would go to jail before that. This is who I am. It would be betraying what I dedicated myself to.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wmmvg\">Houlton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
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{
"title": "Former CIA agent accused of sending classified information to WikiLeaks",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/former-cia-agent-accused-sending-classified-information-wikileaks/",
"first_published_at": "2018-06-20T18:06:58.281683Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:59:59.002292Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:59:58.908982Z",
"date": "2018-06-18",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ru1lw\">Joshua Schulte, a former NSA and CIA staffer, was <a href=\"https://www.buzzfeed.com/kevincollier/cia-employee-espionage-leak-hacking-wikileaks?utm_term=.ae6z049Na#.bvw2RK58v\">indicted</a> on multiple Espionage Act charges on June 18, 2018, for <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-identifies-suspect-in-major-leak-of-cia-hacking-tools/2018/05/15/5d5ef3f8-5865-11e8-8836-a4a123c359ab_story.html\">allegedly</a> <a href=\"https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/wjbyvb/wikileaks-joshua-schulte-diaries-vault-7\">leaking</a> sensitive CIA files to WikiLeaks.</p><p data-block-key=\"g9o94\">On March 7, 2017, WikiLeaks began publishing classified documents that detailed hacking tools and techniques used by the CIA. Later that month, as part of an investigation into the leak, federal agents <a href=\"https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/9k8w47/feds-raid-apartment-of-suspected-cia-leaker-find-10000-images-of-child-porn\">raided</a> Schulte’s apartment and seized his computer.</p><p data-block-key=\"cjhl7\">On August 24, 2017, Schulte was arrested on federal child pornography charges, after federal investigators discovered evidence of child pornography on one of Schulte’s computers that had been seized in the raid. At the time, Schulte was not charged with leaking any classified information.</p><p data-block-key=\"i3kem\">On June 18, 2018, a federal grand jury returned a <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4522058-Joshua-Adam-Schulte-s1-Superseding-Indictment.html\">superseding indictment</a> against Schulte. The indictment accuses Schulte of sending classified CIA material to WikiLeaks, in violation of the Espionage Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. It also restates the earlier child pornography charges and further accuses him of copyright infringement (for allegedly running a server that stored pirated movies), obstruction of justice, and lying to federal agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"qqg5s\">Schulte is the latest person to be criminally prosecuted in connection with an investigation into classified leaks.</p><p data-block-key=\"5v770\">In June 2017, NSA contractor Reality Winner was charged under the Espionage Act for allegedly sending a classified document to The Intercept.</p><p data-block-key=\"b18o1\">In March 2018, former FBI agent Terry Albury was charged under the Espionage Act for allegedly sharing with The Intercept a number of classified FBI documents that instruct agents on how to cultivate informants and surveil journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"8bv2l\">In May 2018, former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer James Wolfe was charged with lying to federal agents about his communication with journalists. Wolfe has not been charged with leaking any classified information to journalists, though he was interviewed by federal agents as part of an investigation into classified leaks.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
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"updates": [
"(2022-07-13 14:14:00+00:00) Former CIA engineer convicted for violations of the Espionage Act, other charges in leak investigation",
"(2022-06-14 13:41:00+00:00) Former CIA agent begins retrial on Espionage Act, other charges",
"(2023-08-29 17:12:00+00:00) Obstruction charge dropped for former CIA staffer in WikiLeaks case",
"(2024-02-01 13:50:00+00:00) Ex-CIA software engineer in WikiLeaks case gets 40 years in prison"
],
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"WikiLeaks"
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"tags": [
"Department of Justice",
"Espionage Act"
],
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"categories": [
"Leak Case"
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},
{
"title": "NYT journalist asked about political views by CBP, told to ‘fall in line’",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nyt-journalist-asked-about-political-views-by-cbp-told-to-fall-in-line/",
"first_published_at": "2024-01-26T18:59:41.846636Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-26T18:59:41.846636Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-26T18:48:57.114146Z",
"date": "2018-06-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Newark",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fxdd7\">Michael Sokolove, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-journalists-asked-about-political-views-by-cbp-told-to-fall-in-line/\">Ann Gerhart</a>, a senior editor-at-large for The Washington Post, were questioned about their politics and work by a Customs and Border Protection officer when returning to the United States on June 16, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"6n05t\">Sokolove told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and his spouse, Gerhart, had landed at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey after a trip to the Caribbean island of Anguilla. Sokolove said that they both had listed “journalist” as their profession on their immigration forms, as usual.</p><p data-block-key=\"8i04m\">They approached the customs desk together and handed the CBP officer their immigration forms, Gerhart said. She told the Tracker that the officer asked the usual questions of “Where were you?” and “What do you do?” But when they said they were journalists, Gerhart said, he asked who they worked for.</p><p data-block-key=\"87afc\">When they told him their media organizations, Gerhart said the agent responded that it was a “dangerous time to be a journalist.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bpom8\">A remark, Gerhart said, she didn’t read as sympathetic.</p><p data-block-key=\"kagg\">Sokolove said that the officer might have asked a few other questions about their work, but that the next thing he remembers distinctly is the officer asking them what they thought of President Donald Trump.</p><p data-block-key=\"5p2s4\">“We both said a version of, ‘It’s not our job to have opinions about President Trump or to express them. We’re journalists, we just report the news,’” Sokolove told the Tracker. “Then I made the mistake of saying, ‘I think this family separation [policy] is really troublesome.’ I think that’s the word I used: I said I was troubled by it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1mo9d\">At that point, Sokolove said, the officer became “very aggressive.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9bsq0\">“He said, ‘Well, I think you really ought to give him a chance and this country has to come together.’ And he just started expressing his own political views that the press was too aggressive with the president, too critical of the president, and we really ought to ‘fall in line and come together.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"d3nbg\">Gerhart told the Tracker that they passed through the checkpoint without further incident, but after the interaction “I was initially flabbergasted and then after that I was shaken by it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9qet1\">“I was quite taken aback to be coming back into the United States as a US-citizen—or really anyone—and be asked for what I took to be some kind of political fealty, if you will.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7s23j\">Sokolove said the interaction left him shocked as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"5q8do\">“I just found it appalling,” Sokolove said, “that upon coming back into this country with my U.S. passport that because I was a journalist I would be asked by an immigration officer what I thought about the president and then told exactly how we ought to be writing about him.”</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Washington Post journalist asked about political views by CBP, told to ‘fall in line’",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-journalists-asked-about-political-views-by-cbp-told-to-fall-in-line/",
"first_published_at": "2019-09-16T14:42:24.238788Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bzpaw\">Ann Gerhart, a senior editor-at-large for The Washington Post, and <a href=\"/all-incidents/nyt-journalist-asked-about-political-views-by-cbp-told-to-fall-in-line/\">Michael Sokolove</a>, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, were questioned about their politics and work by a Customs and Border Protection officer when returning to the United States on June 16, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"gvj6p\">Sokolove told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and his spouse, Gerhart, had landed at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey after a trip to the Caribbean island of Anguilla. Sokolove said that they both had listed “journalist” as their profession on their immigration forms, as usual.</p><p data-block-key=\"5rjsu\">They approached the customs desk together and handed the CBP officer their immigration forms, Gerhart said. She told the Tracker that the officer asked the usual questions of “Where were you?” and “What do you do?” But when they said they were journalists, Gerhart said, he asked who they worked for.</p><p data-block-key=\"vfpqs\">When they told him their media organizations, Gerhart said the agent responded that it was a “dangerous time to be a journalist.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7la96\">A remark, Gerhart said, she didn’t read as sympathetic.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ky89\">Sokolove said that the officer might have asked a few other questions about their work, but that the next thing he remembers distinctly is the officer asking them what they thought of President Donald Trump.</p><p data-block-key=\"qvtij\">“We both said a version of, ‘It’s not our job to have opinions about President Trump or to express them. We’re journalists, we just report the news,’” Sokolove told the Tracker. “Then I made the mistake of saying, ‘I think this family separation [policy] is really troublesome.’ I think that’s the word I used: I said I was troubled by it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1mysn\">At that point, Sokolove said, the officer became “very aggressive.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vp7qr\">“He said, ‘Well, I think you really ought to give him a chance and this country has to come together.’ And he just started expressing his own political views that the press was too aggressive with the president, too critical of the president, and we really ought to ‘fall in line and come together.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"ao8s5\">Gerhart told the Tracker that they passed through the checkpoint without further incident, but after the interaction “I was initially flabbergasted and then after that I was shaken by it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cucme\">“I was quite taken aback to be coming back into the United States as a US-citizen—or really anyone—and be asked for what I took to be some kind of political fealty, if you will.”</p><p data-block-key=\"amxaz\">Sokolove said the interaction left him shocked as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"fj8l5\">“I just found it appalling,” Sokolove said, “that upon coming back into this country with my U.S. passport that because I was a journalist I would be asked by an immigration officer what I thought about the president and then told exactly how we ought to be writing about him.”</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Reporter John Harvey arrested and cited for ‘disorderly conduct’ at Pennsylvania State Capitol",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-john-harvey-arrested-and-cited-disorderly-conduct-pennsylvania-state-capitol/",
"first_published_at": "2018-12-06T20:37:37.566155Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T19:40:48.845220Z",
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"date": "2018-06-11",
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"city": "Harrisburg",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dkkgz\">Democracy Watch News journalist John Harvey was arrested at the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex in Harrisburg, while filming a sit-in on June 11, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"hfdth\">The sit-in was part of the “Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival,” which carried out a series of nonviolent demonstrations across the country during the summer of 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"l5ak9\">On June 11, the Poor People’s Campaign was in its fifth consecutive week of activity at the Pennsylvania capitol building, <a href=\"https://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/06/nine_arrested_at_poor_peoples.html\">according to PennLive.com</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7951i\">Harvey was one of nine people arrested and cited for disorderly conduct during the protest which occurred just outside the entrance to the House Chamber, according to PennLive.com.</p><p data-block-key=\"z0pj6\"><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/PennsylvaniaPPC/videos/1869816743311626/\">Video</a> of the incident show Harvey filming the initial arrests while standing along a banister with other reporters a short distance from the entryway.</p><p data-block-key=\"vcotf\">According to Harvey, the protesters had already performed a number of actions at the Capitol that day without incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"b899r\">“I’m not sure exactly why at that point they [Capitol police] decided they were going to remove these protesters that were performing the sit in, as they’d had various other opportunities to do so,” Harvey told Freedom of the Press Foundation.</p><p data-block-key=\"k9m1q\">After the first demonstrators are lead away in plastic cuffs, Harvey can be seen moving slightly forward for an unobstructed view of the final arrests of two older protesters, including an elderly woman with a walker. As she is slowly lead away, Harvey told Freedom of the Press Foundation he was shoved and accosted by a stranger who scuffled him against a wall.</p><p data-block-key=\"zqtez\">“This guy he’s screaming, he’s screaming, he’s screaming,” Harvey said, “Well, by then why would I even think he’s a cop? I think he’s some lunatic who feels that my coverage of this poor people’s event is incorrect or it’s bringing attention to them that shouldn’t be brought to them.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gq61j\">Harvey said he’s been attacked a number of times by people for doing his job as a journalist and assumed this was another such incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"rtnud\">Video footage shows a man in a taupe blazer and tie repeatedly yelling “knock it off” while grabbing Harvey’s left arm and wrist and pressing him back against the wall. The man also shouts “What’s wrong with you?” at Harvey, who can be heard replying, “What’s wrong with you?”</p><p data-block-key=\"qzufz\">Harvey attempts to point his camera toward the man, but he shoves it away. After Harvey shows the man his press pass, the man can be heard saying he is aware Harvey is a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"q39m4\">“I understand that,” he says. “I’m asking you to keep it clear, for our guys. Now take it easy. Do not block our officers. Do not stand in back of them. Ok? Knock it off.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c9xhb\">Harvey told Freedom of the Press Foundation this was the first time the man indicated he was police officer.</p><p data-block-key=\"yfwh7\">Another officer then tells Harvey to stand against the wall, which he does.</p><p data-block-key=\"0eb14\">“I’m thinking ‘Ok, fine,’ tell me to stand there and I’ll stand there and film from there. All you need to do is tell me,” Harvey said.</p><p data-block-key=\"99lk8\">Harvey resumes filming the protesters when another officer is beckoned over and instructed to remove Harvey, which he does along with a Capitol police officer. That officer places Harvey in a wrist lock.</p><p data-block-key=\"z2s0y\">As Harvey is led away, he momentarily films the officer who has placed him in a wrist lock before the officer pushes the camera away. Harvey said he was lead to a room with other protesters, where he waited a significant period of time before officers were able to complete their citations.</p><p data-block-key=\"a35z5\">Harvey, who was at the Capitol to cover a Healthcare Services Employees Union sleep-in later that night, was barred from the Capitol for the rest of day.</p><p data-block-key=\"xiqvz\">“Gosh, now I have to head back to Pittsburgh, because what I went out there for I can’t do anymore,” Harvey said.</p><p data-block-key=\"fq8zx\">Harvey says the citation was eventually dropped, and he is currently pursuing a number of Freedom of Information Act requests into how new officers are trained as well as officer guidelines for interacting with the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"eks2p\">“I was placed in a handlock and lead off when those sitting-in weren’t, and I really feel that was an abuse of power,” Harvey said.</p><p data-block-key=\"rgg0o\">“In terms of press freedoms I think it’s inappropriate, because it means that anyone that goes to the Capitol to report on something can be arrested and banned from the Capitol for the day for doing nothing other than their job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kgo0m\">Harrisburg Capitol police spokesman Troy Thompson did not respond to requests for comment.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"qhfip\">Screencap from video footage recorded of the incident.<br/></p>",
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