Man who attacked Annapolis newspaper pleads guilty to 23 counts

The man charged with opening fire in an Annapolis, Md., newsroom in 2018, killing five people, pleaded guilty to the murders Monday as well as 18 other charges, according to ABC7.

Jarrod Ramos pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder and asked for a jury trial on the question of his mental competence.

{mosads}Ramos’s indictment includes an additional count of attempted first-degree murder, six counts of first-degree assault and 11 counts of firearm use in commission with a violent crime.

On June 28, 2018, Ramos entered the Capital Gazette newspaper and killed columnist Gerald Fischman, assistant editor and weekend columnist Rob Hiaasen, sports reporter John McNamara, sales assistant Rebecca Smith and community beat reporter Wendi Winters.

Ramos reportedly had an ongoing feud with the newspaper that began when it published an article in 2011 on his guilty plea for criminal harassment. Ramos sued the newspaper, but the lawsuit was unsuccessful as their report was based on publicly available records. The newspaper’s former editor and publisher said he began harassing individual staffers following the incident.

Ramos had previously pleaded not guilty and not mentally responsible, Maryland’s equivalent of the insanity defense. His plea Monday followed a morning meeting between prosecutors and attorneys for Ramos, according to ABC7.