A letter written by the suspect shooter of Capital Gazette to the newspaper’s lawyer revealed that he planned to kill every single person present in the newsroom.  Jarrod.W.Ramos suspected of fatally shooting five people in an Annapolis newsroom in his letter remarked that his actual plans didn’t work out as planned. The letter was drafted much like a court document. Ramos had a year-long legal dispute with the newspaper over a 2011 column that detailed his harassment of a former high school classmate and had represented himself in the proceedings.

In his letter, he appears to blame the judiciary for being “too cowardly” to confront what he calls “lies.” He also uses an apparent quotation to argue that one reason defamation law exists is to prevent a defamed person from “wreaking his own vengeance.” 

A spokeswoman for the Anne Arundel County Police Department said Ramos sent three letters that were received by their recipients and subsequently reported to the police. In addition to the one sent to The Capital’s law firm, one went to a Baltimore City courthouse and one to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. She described the letters as “threatening in nature,” but declined to provide more details, citing a continuing investigation. It was not clear whether the three letters were identical.

Ramos was found hiding under a desk after the attack and was arrested. He was denied bail and was charged with five counts of the first –degree murder. The Capital Gazette employees, several of whom worked the night of the shooting to put out a newspaper the next day, have continued to work exhaustively to cover the aftermath, said Triffon G. Alatzas, the publisher, and editor in chief of the Baltimore Sun Media Group, which owns The Capital.