On June 28, 2018 at 2:40PM eastern time, shots rang out at the offices of the Capital Gazette; a local newspaper covering Annapolis, Maryland. The shooting resulted in the deaths of five people and injuries to two others who worked at the paper who were reportedly shot by a suspect identified as Jarrod Ramos of Laurel, Maryland. Predictably, the shooting triggered a media firestorm speculating numerous possible political motives for the shooting, as well as rumors that Ramos mutilated his fingertips to avoid identification and the possibility that it was a coordinated attack on the media, resulting in preventative sweeps of newsrooms in Baltimore, New York and Washington.
After the dust settled, the Capital Gazette shooting ended up being yet another horrific case of workplace violence, resulting from a long-term feud that Ramos had with the paper. Ramos, triggered by losing a defamation claim against the Capital Gazette over their coverage of a domestic harassment case against him, carried out the shooting as an act of revenge. While Ramos is being uncooperative with law enforcement, the many reports of his fingerprints being mutilated have been debunked, as well as any political motivations and possible coordination with other attackers. Reportedly, Ramos used an unmodified shotgun in the attack, and while reports emerged of his having smoke grenades, none of the victims recalled him using any.