A woman who said she was harassed and stalked by the accused Capital Gazette killer says she warned police years ago the man would be the “next mass shooter.”
Jarrod W. Ramos, 38, was charged with five counts of first-degree murder on Friday and ordered held without bond pending a trial after the rampage at the Maryland newspaper on Thursday.
Jarrod W. Ramos, 38, was charged with five counts of first-degree murder on Friday, June 29, 2018. (Anne Arundel Co. Dept. of Detention Facilities)
Jayne Miller, a reporter with Baltimore’s WBAL-TV, said Thursday she spoke to a woman who said Ramos stalked, harassed and sued her years before the Capital Gazette murder spree. She said Ramos became “fixated” on her to the point where she became frightened enough to move out of state.
“He’s a f—ing nut job,” the woman said, according to Miller. The unidentified woman told Miller she had warned a former police official years ago that Ramos “will be your next mass shooter.”
Police held a final press conference on the shooting on Friday and revealed the Capital Gazette met with lawyers and police in 2013 to discuss if they should press charges against Ramos, who had posted threats on social media aimed at the paper. However, Anne Arundel County Chief Timothy Altomare said the newspaper ultimately declined to pursue charges over concerns it would “exacerbate an already flammable situation.”
Ramos’ feud with the newspaper began in July 2011 after the publication of an article about his conviction in a criminal harassment case. The case involved an online relationship with a former high school classmate Ramos had tried to contact, the Baltimore Sun reported.
Ramos filed a defamation lawsuit against Tom Marquardt, a Capital Gazette editor and publisher, Eric Hartley, a columnist, “for damaging his reputation” but the newspaper won the case. Hartley and Marquardt do not currently work for the paper and were not present at the time of the mass shooting.
Marquardt told the Baltimore Sun he called police in 2013.
Jarrod Warren Ramos was ordered held without bond pending a trial on Friday, June 29, 2018. (Anne Arundel Police via AP)
“I was seriously concerned he would threaten us with physical violence,” Marquardt told the Baltimore Sun. “I even told my wife, ‘We have to be concerned. This guy could really hurt us.’”
Officials have yet to confirm a motive for Thursday’s attack, saying the suspect has not been cooperative in providing information to investigators.
