Yesterday, a man with a "long-standing grudge against the paper," a history of misogynistic abuse, and access to a shotgun killed five people at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland.
Journalists dived under their desks and pleaded for help on social media. One reporter described the scene as a "war zone." A photographer said he jumped over a dead colleague and fled for his life.The Baltimore Sun has obituarities for each of the victims: Gerald Fischman; Rob Hiaasen; John McNamara; Rebecca Smith; and Wendi Winters. My condolences to their families, friends, and colleagues. I am so sorry.
The victims were identified as Rob Hiaasen, 59, a former feature writer for The Baltimore Sun who joined the Capital Gazette in 2010 as an assistant editor and columnist; Wendi Winters, 65, a community correspondent who headed special publications; Gerald Fischman, 61, the editorial page editor; John McNamara, 56, a staff writer who had covered high school, college, and professional sports for decades; and Rebecca Smith, 34, a sales assistant hired in November.
Two others were injured in the attack that began about 2:40 p.m. at the Capital Gazette offices at 888 Bestgate Road in Annapolis.
Police took a suspect into custody soon after the shootings. He was identified as Jarrod W. Ramos, a 38-year-old Laurel man with a long-standing grudge against the paper.
Ramos was charged with five counts of first-degree murder, according to online court records.
Ramos' motive may have been his grievance with the paper, but the deadly action he decided to take only now did not happen in a vacuum. It happened two days after a prominent rightwing provocateur said: "I can't wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight." It happened in the midst of the sitting president's years-long war on the press.
Thoughts and prayers aren't going to cut it. Accountability for and a willingness to change a culture of violence is where we have to start.
Maybe Ramos was not directly influenced by anything he heard from Trump, M1lo, or other press-demonizing endorsers of violence, but the incendiary trash they disgorge creates a toxic culture in which we all swim.
Conservatives can't keep pretending that the only culture which exists is the progressive culture they want to attack and destroy.
Related Reading: Their Bootstraps Made Them Do It and Every. Damn. Time.
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