first_published_at,last_published_at,title,slug,latest_revision_created_at,charges,legal_orders,updates,categories,links,equipment_seized,equipment_broken,targeted_journalists,authors,date,exact_date_unknown,city,state,latitude,longitude,body,introduction,teaser,teaser_image,primary_video,image_caption,arrest_status,arresting_authority,release_date,detention_date,unnecessary_use_of_force,case_number,case_statuses,case_type,status_of_seized_equipment,is_search_warrant_obtained,actor,border_point,target_us_citizenship_status,denial_of_entry,stopped_previously,did_authorities_ask_for_device_access,did_authorities_ask_about_work,assailant,was_journalist_targeted,charged_under_espionage_act,subpoena_type,subpoena_statuses,name_of_business,third_party_business,legal_order_target,legal_order_type,legal_order_venue,status_of_prior_restraint,mistakenly_released_materials,type_of_denial,targeted_institutions,tags,target_nationality,workers_whose_communications_were_obtained,politicians_or_public_figures_involved 2023-02-23 03:52:06.970554+00:00,2023-12-08 21:05:49.402488+00:00,"Spectrum News 13 reporter killed, photographer shot while reporting",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/spectrum-news-13-reporter-killed-photographer-shot-while-reporting/,2023-12-08 21:05:49.280315+00:00,,,"(2023-02-23 08:16:00+00:00) Reporter killed while covering homicide identifed as Dylan Lyons, 24, (2023-03-10 16:34:00+00:00) Additional charges brought against alleged shooter of Spectrum News reporter, (2023-02-28 13:14:00+00:00) Man charged in the shooting death of Spectrum News reporter, (2023-03-30 16:19:00+00:00) Alleged shooter of Spectrum News reporter indicted on first-degree murder charges",Assault,,,,Dylan Lyons (Spectrum News 13),,2023-02-22,False,Pine Hills,Florida (FL),28.55778,-81.4534,"
Two Spectrum News 13 journalists were shot while reporting at the scene of a homicide investigation in the Orlando suburb of Pine Hills, Florida, on Feb. 22, 2023. A reporter was declared dead at a local hospital where a photojournalist remains in critical condition, according to multiple sources.
The reporter and photojournalist were reporting on an Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigation into the shooting of a 20-year-old woman at approximately 11 a.m. that day, Spectrum News 13 reported.
Shortly after 4 p.m., a man believed to be the suspect in that shooting approached the news crew as they were sitting in an unmarked news vehicle and shot them. The man then continued to a nearby home and shot a woman and her 9-year-old daughter.
WFTV Channel 9 News reporter Sabrina Maggiore wrote on Twitter that the shooter walked past a WFTV news crew at the scene before opening fire on the Spectrum News crew. She wrote that the WFTV crew ran up to the journalists to provide aid before emergency crews arrived.
Spectrum News 13 reported that it is not currently releasing the names of the reporter and photojournalist out of respect for their families.
Sheriff John Mina said in a press conference at 7:15 p.m. that a man had been arrested in connection with the shootings.
“We have detained the person believed to be responsible for the murder this morning as well as the shootings this afternoon,” Mina said. “He is being formally charged in the murder from this morning, and we expect additional charges for the shootings of the four people this afternoon.”
Mina added that the shooter’s motives were unclear and they had not yet determined whether the news crew were targeted because they were covering the first shooting.
“I want to acknowledge what a horrible day this has been for our community and our media partners,” Mina said. “No one in our community — not a mother, not a 9-year-old, and certainly not news professionals — should become the victim of gun violence.”
Charter Communications, Spectrum News 13's parent company, released a statement on Twitter following the shooting: "We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and the other lives senselessly taken today. Our thoughts are with our employee’s family, friends and co-workers during this very difficult time. We remain hopeful that our other colleague who was injured makes a full recovery. This is a terrible tragedy for the Orlando community.”
WESH 2 News Reporter Luana Munoz tweeted that she and other members of the news media community had gathered at the hospital in solidarity.
“This is every reporter's absolutely worst nightmare. We go home at night afraid that something like this will occur, and that is what happened here,” Munoz said during a report from the hospital.
Since 2017, more than 300 journalists have been shot at or shot, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s database. The Spectrum News 13 reporter is the seventh journalist to be killed in the course of or as the result of their reporting.
Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons, 24, was killed in a shooting in the Orlando suburb of Pine Hills, Florida, on Feb. 22, 2023. His colleague, photojournalist Jesse Walden, 29, was critically injured.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,unknown,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"killed, shot / shot at",,, 2022-09-08 14:30:50.435711+00:00,2024-02-29 19:10:46.592018+00:00,County official arrested in stabbing death of Las Vegas investigative journalist,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/county-official-arrested-in-stabbing-death-of-las-vegas-journalist/,2024-02-29 19:10:46.442310+00:00,,,"(2022-09-08 14:22:00+00:00) Las Vegas police say evidence ties county official to murder of Review-Journal journalist, (2022-10-26 13:33:00+00:00) County official pleads not guilty in the murder of Las Vegas journalist, (2022-11-02 10:57:00+00:00) Trial date set for county official charged in the murder of Las Vegas journalist, (2022-10-18 12:07:00+00:00) County official accused of stabbing death of Las Vegas journalist denied bail, (2022-10-19 13:37:00+00:00) County official charged with murder of Las Vegas journalist, faces possible death penalty, (2023-02-01 16:38:00+00:00) Trial postponed for county official charged in stabbing death of Review-Journal reporter",Assault,,,,Jeff German (Las Vegas Review-Journal),,2022-09-02,False,Las Vegas,Nevada (NV),36.17497,-115.13722,"On Sept. 7, 2022, Las Vegas police arrested a public official on suspicion of murdering a Las Vegas Review-Journal journalist, according to the outlet.
Investigative reporter Jeff German was found fatally stabbed outside of his home on the morning of Sept. 3, with police saying they believe he was attacked the previous morning. In the report of his death, Review-Journal Executive Editor Glenn Cook said German had never communicated concerns about his personal safety or threats made against him.
On Sept. 6, LVMPD released two images during a news conference, including one of a suspect next to a vehicle. Later that evening, according to the Review-Journal, reporters for the outlet observed Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles in his driveway next to a vehicle matching the description.
German had published a series of investigations into Telles beginning in May which revealed a hostile work environment characterized by bullying, retaliation and an “inappropriate relationship” between Telles and a staffer during his oversight of the public administrator’s office.
On Sept. 7, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department searched Telles’ home and arrested him that evening, according to the Review-Journal.
TELLES ARRESTED: Police have arrested Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles on Wednesday on suspicion of murder of Las Vegas Review Journal investigative reporter Jeff German, according to @LVMPD Sheriff Joe Lombardo. #RJNow pic.twitter.com/V4IqE7euZP
— James Schaeffer (@jamesmschaeffer) September 8, 2022
“The arrest of Robert Telles is at once an enormous relief and an outrage for the Review-Journal newsroom,” Executive Editor Cook said in a statement to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “We are relieved Telles is in custody and outraged that a colleague appears to have been killed for reporting on an elected official. Journalists can’t do the important work our communities require if they are afraid a presentation of facts could lead to violent retribution. We thank Las Vegas police for their urgency and hard work and for immediately recognizing the terrible significance of Jeff’s killing. Now, hopefully, the Review-Journal, the German family and Jeff’s many friends can begin the process of mourning and honoring a great man and a brave reporter.”
Telles is being held on suspicion of murder and has a court appearance scheduled on Sept. 8, according to online Clark County Jail records reviewed by the Tracker.
As of publication, LVMPD and the Review-Journal could not be reached for comment.
Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative journalist Jeff German, photographed on Las Vegas’ Strip in June 2021, was killed outside his home on Sept. 2, 2022. A county official has been charged with his murder.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,politician,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,killed,,, 2018-06-29 17:55:14.259753+00:00,2024-02-29 19:57:04.153773+00:00,Editor killed in Capital Gazette newsroom shooting by man upset with newspaper coverage,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-upset-newspaper-coverage-shoots-and-kills-multiple-journalists-capital-gazette-newsroom/,2024-02-29 19:57:04.003934+00:00,,,"(2021-07-15 15:30:00+00:00) Maryland man found criminally responsible for deaths of five in newsroom shooting, (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, (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",Assault,"Five dead in 'targeted attack' at Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, police say (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-gazette-shooting-20180628-story.html) via Baltimore Sun, Sources identify suspect in Annapolis Capital shooting as Jarrod Ramos, who had long-running feud with paper (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ramos-search-20180628-story.html) via Baltimore Sun, Suspect in Maryland mass shooting had long-standing grievance with the newspaper that was attacked (http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-newspaper-shooting-20180628-story.html) via Los Angeles Times, Lawyer recalls Jarrod Ramos' 'simmering anger' while defending Capital Gazette from defamation suit (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-news-capital-gazette-jarrod-ramos-lawsuit-20180628-story.html) via Daily News, Annapolis newspaper shooting suspect harassed Virginian-Pilot editor for years (https://pilotonline.com/news/local/crime/article_56a204e6-7b39-11e8-8586-c75874de25c7.html) via Virginian-Pilot, Maryland Court of Special Appeals opinion in defamation suit (http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf#page=7), 'We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow': Capital Gazette journalists report on shooting in their own newsroom (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-covering-shooting-20180628-story.html) via Baltimore Sun, Capital Gazette shooting victim Rob Hiaasen: A joyful stylist, a generous mentor (http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/annapolis/bs-md-rob-hiaasen-20180628-story.html) via Capital Gazette, Capital Gazette shooting victim Gerald Fischman: Clever and quirky voice of a community newspaper (http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/annapolis/bs-md-gerald-fischman-20180628-story.html) via Capital Gazette, Capital Gazette shooting victim John McNamara: Sports reporting was his dream job (http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/annapolis/bs-md-john-mcnamara-20180628-story.html) via Capital Gazette, Capital Gazette shooting victim Wendi Winters: A prolific writer who chronicled her community (http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/annapolis/bs-md-wendi-winters-20180628-story.html) via Capital Gazette, Capital Gazette shooting victim Rebecca Smith: Recent hire loved spending time with family (http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/annapolis/bs-md-ar-rebecca-smith-20180628-story.html) via Capital Gazette, The Capital's front page on June 29, 2018 (http://digitaledition.capitalgazette.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=8b1fea6b-b045-4d93-97a0-18b26dbb2c3b)",,,Gerald Fischman (Capital Gazette),,2018-06-28,False,Annapolis,Maryland (MD),38.97859,-76.49184,"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 reported. 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.
Editorial page editor Gerald Fischman, 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:
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 here.
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.
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.
A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead.
— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) June 28, 2018
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.
— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) June 28, 2018
There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload
— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) June 28, 2018
Jarrod Ramos, the suspect in the shooting, had threatened and harassed Capital Gazette staffers for years, according to the Sun.
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, according to The Virginian-Pilot, where Hartley now works.
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:
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.
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.
Transcript of March 29, 2013 motion hearing
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:
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.
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.
Unpublished appellate opinion
Ramos then tried to appeal to the state's highest court, the Maryland Court of Appeals, which declined to hear his case.
Ramos also harassed The Capital and its reporters outside of the courtroom.
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.
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.
"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.'"
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.
"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.
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.
"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."
On June 29, the day after the shooting, Ramos was charged with five counts of first-degree murder.
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.
Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow. https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R
— Capital Gazette (@capgaznews) June 29, 2018
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 opinion about the world around them, that they might be better citizens."
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.
",None,None,None,None,False,C-02-CV-21-000820,"['ONGOING', 'SETTLED']",Civil,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"killed, shot / shot at",,, 2021-10-21 20:45:58.827623+00:00,2024-02-29 19:57:24.356472+00:00,Sports reporter killed in Capital Gazette newsroom shooting by man upset with newspaper coverage,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sports-reporter-killed-in-capital-gazette-newsroom-shooting-by-man-upset-with-newspaper-coverage/,2024-02-29 19:57:24.207850+00:00,,,"(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",Assault,,,,John McNamara (Capital Gazette),,2018-06-28,False,Annapolis,Maryland (MD),38.97859,-76.49184,"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 reported. 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.
Community news and sports reporter John McNamara, 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:
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 here.
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.
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.
A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead.
— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) June 28, 2018
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.
— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) June 28, 2018
There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload
— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) June 28, 2018
Jarrod Ramos, the suspect in the shooting, had threatened and harassed Capital Gazette staffers for years, according to the Sun.
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, according to The Virginian-Pilot, where Hartley now works.
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:
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.
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.
Transcript of March 29, 2013 motion hearing
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:
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.
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.
Unpublished appellate opinion
Ramos then tried to appeal to the state's highest court, the Maryland Court of Appeals, which declined to hear his case.
Ramos also harassed The Capital and its reporters outside of the courtroom.
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.
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.
"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.'"
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.
"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.
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.
"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."
On June 29, the day after the shooting, Ramos was charged with five counts of first-degree murder.
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.
Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow. https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R
— Capital Gazette (@capgaznews) June 29, 2018
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."
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.
",None,None,None,None,False,C-02-CV-21-000820,"['ONGOING', 'SETTLED']",Civil,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"killed, shot / shot at",,, 2021-10-21 20:54:52.734284+00:00,2024-02-29 19:57:42.858351+00:00,Columnist killed in Capital Gazette newsroom shooting by man upset with newspaper coverage,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/columnist-killed-in-capital-gazette-newsroom-shooting-by-man-upset-with-newspaper-coverage/,2024-02-29 19:57:42.731547+00:00,,,"(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",Assault,,,,Rob Hiaasen (Capital Gazette),,2018-06-28,False,Annapolis,Maryland (MD),38.97859,-76.49184,"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 reported. 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.
Columnist and assistant editor Rob Hiaasen, 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:
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 here.
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.
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.
A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead.
— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) June 28, 2018
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.
— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) June 28, 2018
There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload
— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) June 28, 2018
Jarrod Ramos, the suspect in the shooting, had threatened and harassed Capital Gazette staffers for years, according to the Sun.
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, according to The Virginian-Pilot, where Hartley now works.
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:
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.
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.
Transcript of March 29, 2013 motion hearing
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:
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.
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.
Unpublished appellate opinion
Ramos then tried to appeal to the state's highest court, the Maryland Court of Appeals, which declined to hear his case.
Ramos also harassed The Capital and its reporters outside of the courtroom.
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.
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.
"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.'"
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.
"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.
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.
"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."
On June 29, the day after the shooting, Ramos was charged with five counts of first-degree murder.
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.
Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow. https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R
— Capital Gazette (@capgaznews) June 29, 2018
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."
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.
",None,None,None,None,False,C-02-CV-21-000820,"['ONGOING', 'SETTLED']",Civil,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"killed, shot / shot at",,, 2021-10-21 21:01:43.524055+00:00,2024-02-29 19:58:11.015043+00:00,Community news reporter killed in Capital Gazette newsroom shooting by man upset with newspaper coverage,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/community-news-reporter-killed-in-capital-gazette-newsroom-shooting-by-man-upset-with-newspaper-coverage/,2024-02-29 19:58:10.856961+00:00,,,"(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",Assault,,,,Wendi Winters (Capital Gazette),,2018-06-28,False,Annapolis,Maryland (MD),38.97859,-76.49184,"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 reported. 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.
Community news reporter and columnist Wendi Winters, 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:
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 here.
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.
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.
A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead.
— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) June 28, 2018
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.
— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) June 28, 2018
There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload
— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) June 28, 2018
Jarrod Ramos, the suspect in the shooting, had threatened and harassed Capital Gazette staffers for years, according to the Sun.
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, according to The Virginian-Pilot, where Hartley now works.
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:
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.
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.
Transcript of March 29, 2013 motion hearing
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:
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.
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.
Unpublished appellate opinion
Ramos then tried to appeal to the state's highest court, the Maryland Court of Appeals, which declined to hear his case.
Ramos also harassed The Capital and its reporters outside of the courtroom.
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.
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.
"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.'"
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.
"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.
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.
"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."
On June 29, the day after the shooting, Ramos was charged with five counts of first-degree murder.
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.
Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow. https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R
— Capital Gazette (@capgaznews) June 29, 2018
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."
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.
",None,None,None,None,False,C-02-CV-21-000820,"['ONGOING', 'SETTLED']",Civil,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"killed, shot / shot at",,, 2018-06-04 22:01:53.023098+00:00,2023-05-16 17:04:50.434195+00:00,Independent journalist Zack Stoner shot and killed in Chicago,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-zack-stoner-shot-and-killed-chicago/,2023-05-16 17:04:50.244190+00:00,,,(2022-11-03 12:49:00+00:00) Prosecutors declined to charge suspects in murder of Chicago journalist,Assault,"Independent music journalist Zachary Stoner killed in Chicago (https://cpj.org/2018/06/independent-music-journalist-zachary-stoner-killed.php) via CPJ, Popular Chicago vlogger fatally shot while driving, crashes car in South Loop (http://wgntv.com/2018/05/30/fatal-shooting-leads-to-crash-in-south-loop/) via WGN, Journalist ZackTV was a 'peacemaker' who looked out for everyone, friends say (https://www.pressreader.com/usa/chicago-sun-times/20180531/281668255655888) via Chicago Sun-Times, The Hood CNN: ZackTV1 (https://chicagodefender.com/2018/04/16/the-hood-cnn-zacktv1/) via Chicago Defender, Funeral services set for journalist ZackTV (https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/journalist-zacktv-was-a-peacemaker-who-looked-out-for-everyone-friends-say/) via Chicago Sun-Times, Vlogger ZackTV devoted his life to making Chicago’s fractious rap scene into one community (https://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2018/06/04/vlogger-zacktv-devoted-his-life-to-making-chicagos-fractious-rap-scene-into-one-community) via Chicago Reader",,,Zack Stoner (Independent),,2018-05-30,False,Chicago,Illinois (IL),41.85003,-87.65005,"On May 30, 2018, independent journalist Zack Stoner was shot and killed while driving in downtown Chicago, Illinois. Authorities have not said publicly whether they believe that the murder is connected to Stoner’s work.
WGN reported that Stoner was last seen alive around 1 a.m. in the early hours of May 30th, when he left a rap concert at Refuge, a club in downtown Chicago. Around 1:30 a.m., he was driving his Jeep down Clark Street in the South Loop neighborhood in Chicago when unknown assailants in a second vehicle pulled alongside him and opened fire.
The bullets struck Stoner in the head and neck, causing him to drive onto a curb and crash into a light pole. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition, but was declared dead at 4:20 a.m., according to a log from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Videos recorded by bystanders immediately after the shooting show three cars — Stoner’s Jeep, a wrecked Chevy Caprice, and a third car — and a group of people running to the third car. One of the persons in the video can be heard shouting, “Let’s go!”
Stoner, who grew up in a poor suburb of Chicago, ran a YouTube channel called “ZackTV1,” which had over 170,000 followers at the time of his death. On his channel, he posted exclusive interviews with underground hip hop artists and members of local gangs. Though some of his videos were controversial — a few mentioned conspiracy theories and others featured young men throwing gang signs and threatening their rivals — his friends and associates said that he always tried to remain neutral in gang disputes and was willing to interview anyone.
“He wasn’t in any gangs and he would and could literally go into any hood with his camera and get nothing but love,” music studio owner JP Lee told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“I’m hearing stories like they may have been mad at him because he did interviews with certain rappers," Stoner’s friend Phor Robinson told WGN. "But that’s not his fault for him doing his job. I don’t know why anyone would attack Zack and shoot him. He’s not that type. He shows love to everybody in Chicago.”
Morgan Elise Johnson, co-founder and creative director of the Chicago-based publication The Triibe, met with Stoner and his business partner Tony Woods a month before Stoner’s death to discuss a potential partnership.
“His voice was so powerful in the hood, and I don’t know if that power had something to do with his death,” Johnson told the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Stoner received threats related to his reporting, particularly his coverage of the death of Kenneka Jenkins, a teenage girl. On Sept. 10, 2017, Jenkins was found dead in a walk-in freezer at the Crowne Plaza O’Hare Hotel, where she had attended a party the night before. Although the death was ultimately ruled an accident, it sparked a massive social media frenzy and numerous conspiracy theories.
Stoner interviewed some of Jenkins’ friends who were with her the night that she died, but initially did not post the videos. In Oct. 2017, he received a threatening phone call from an anonymous woman, who warned him to “leave the case alone… leave it alone for your safety.” At the time, Stoner said that he would not post interviews related to the case because his house had been broken into, his camera gear stolen, and he was receiving threatening phone calls and emails. But in late November, he finally published the videos.
In April 2018, freelance journalist Charles Preston profiled Stoner for the Chicago Defender.
“Stoner documents what others neglect and repeatedly interviews personalities who many had hoped would never grace a camera,” Preston wrote. “His videos are not fluffy, glitzy, and sentimental documentary shorts; on the contrary, they are more like visceral punches to the gut that can leave you either inspired for change or disturbed by reality. He has given the city’s most controversial artists their first on-camera interviews and covered neighborhoods where news reporters keep their news trucks running.”
"I wanted to show the world what the other side of Chicago looks like…our culture — the way we dress, what we eat, how we talk, how we walk,” Stoner told Preston.
"A lot of people respect what I do," he added. "I'm the 'Hood CNN.'"
The profile also highlighted Stoner’s involvement in community service work.
“People don’t see what he does behind the scenes,” Woods, Stoner’s mentor, told the Defender. “There have been many occasions where a guy will call Zack on his way ride on his opps (Chicago slang for enemies) and Zack would talk him down. The brother has a jail phone. He sends money to incarcerated brothers and takes care of their families. People don’t get to see that side of it. They assume because he’s interviewing [members of rival gangs] the GD's or BD's that he’s fanning the flames and that’s not the case.”
Shortly after Stoner’s death was confirmed, Preston said on Twitter that Stoner had discussed the possibility of working with the Chicago Defender to create a documentary series about violence in Chicago.
Last time I talked to Zack, he was at Sip and Savor on 43rd. He was happy to be the first Chicago journalist to interview openly gay rapper @KiddoKenn. He told me that he wanted to do more docu-series on Chicago's violence.
— Charles Preston (@_CharlesPreston) May 30, 2018
After I interviewed Zack for the Defender, I then introduced him to Frances Jackson, the boss at the time. I showed her his videos. She said "Let's do a docu-series with him." He thought he broke through. Two weeks later she was let go. He was really trying to get out the streets
— Charles Preston (@_CharlesPreston) May 30, 2018
Zack Stoner speaks in a video published on his YouTube channel "ZackTV1," in April 2018.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"killed, shot / shot at",,,