The live police update just confirmed that there are several fatalities. White male suspect in custody.
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/maryland-newspaper-shooting/index.html
No, we don’t know the motivation for this particular attack but it follows a pattern of increased attacks on the press. It disturbs me how much we’ve normalized attacks on the free press as I firmly believe that freedom is impossible without a free press.
They just confirmed at least 5 fatalities. There are still several people in “grave” conditions.
I can only hope that if this was a politically/ideologically-inspired attack, we have the same response that we did to Charlie Hebdo.
“Milo Yiannopoulos didn’t get the memo about the need for civility in our discourse.
“I can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight,” the provocateur texted a reporter for the New York Observer this week.”
I guess he got his wish.
What a slimeball.
This is my community. My heart is breaking. My husband’s company was located in that building until a couple of years ago. I am in this area almost daily (was just there yesterday at Trader Joe’s and the bank). My friend lives in the neighborhood adjacent to this building. I know people who work for the paper, including my neighbor, and so far have only heard confirmation that he is ok. Surreal seeing my friend, who is the acting police chief, giving a news brief just now on CNN. I happened to be driving on the highway right there when I saw multiple police cars go flying by. I assumed there was a car accident until my husband called me moments later to tell me what was going on. I spent the next two hours driving to the beach, never imagining that instead of listening to my audiobook, I was instead listening to Anderson Cooper on CNN on satellite radio talking about my hometown. I’m just sick to my stomach.
I am so sorry, I’m praying for your community.
I’m sorry @4kids4us. I’m another who will be praying for healing for your entire community. Having been through 2 school shootings in 20 years in my community, I know the effects are wide spread and long lasting. Take care.
@4kids4us, I’m so sorry this has happened in your community. This hits so close to home for you in more ways than one. I’m on the other side of the Beltway, and it’s been all over the news this afternoon. There but for the grace of G-d go us all. Should not be this way.
I was just there in the area shortly before it all happened. Sad and tragic. What kind of person mutilates their finger tips to avoid identification? Apparently they used facial recognition and have id’d him.
On the national news tonight, while reporting this story, they said that this is the 195th mass shooting of 2018. Awful. Just awful.
There are unconfirmed reports that the shooter had sued the newspaper several years ago for defamation and his suit was dismissed.
Here is the dismissal of the lawsuit brought by someone with the same name as the shooter, against The Capital and a (now former) reporter at The Capital: http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf
The guy sued a newspaper for writing an article about his being convicted of harassing a woman. The lawsuit was pro se; that is, the guy represented himself. And badly. The judge was blunt.
If the guy from the lawsuit is indeed the shooter, he follows the pattern of shooters, a white guy who has previously abused women.
Carl Hiassen’s brother was killed. So sad.
http://time.com/5326038/capital-gazette-shooting-putting-out-paper/
This is the press attitude that I hope we never, ever lose.
Another horrifying event.
And thank you to all who are working hard to uphold professional ethics and standards as you provide us with our “damn papers”. What you do counts.
Please remember that the Annapolis tragedy is not normal. It is not normal to be gunned down at work. At school. In nightclubs. In our places of worship. In theaters. At college. In our communities. Yet it happens every day in America.
We don’t have to live this way… ACT.
The problem is that it ~is~ normal. When it is a daily occurrence, it is normal. Normal definition: “conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.”
We don’t have to accept it (and I don’t), but it’s been completely normalized in our society. Could you imagine if we had small bombs going off at least once daily?
The shooter has been identified as Jarrod Ramos of Laurel, MD. In 2012 he sued the newspaper for defamation because they published a story about his arrest for some crime. He lost the case.
http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/content/news/Report-Multiple-people-shot-at-newspaper-in-Maryland-486855951.html
It was not a random attack.
This shooting wasn’t in my neighborhood. But then Greenwich posted about Rob Hiaasen being killed. All of sudden, it became real. I’ve heard Carl H speak at book promotions, so I have a real image of the man and can visualize his brother. I use to,pass the National Enquirer building in my former office daily. parkland is nearby. What a world we live in.
It is true that it was not a random attack. But my understanding is that the people killed were killed because they were in the office today, not because of any specific connection to the shooter’s grudge other than working at that newspaper.