WASHINGTON — After survivors of the Capital Gazette shooting were evacuated Thursday, first responders could hear the five victims’ cellphones ringing in the otherwise-silent newsroom, as loved ones apparently tried to reach them in vain.
It was a chilling detail that investigators shared Tuesday as they described the response to last week’s shooting in Annapolis, Maryland.
Police also said Tuesday that if they had known about the three threatening letters that accused killer Jarrod Ramos sent the morning of the Capital Gazette shooting, it would have warranted an investigation and arrest.
(In an interview Tuesday morning on WTOP, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said his administration is looking into why threats from Ramos didn’t trigger a stronger response.)
Ramos allegedly signed and mailed three letters that were postmarked hours before Thursday’s newsroom shooting. Anne Arundel County Lt. Ryan Frashure said they went to a private law firm, the Maryland Court of Appeals in Annapolis and the Baltimore Circuit Court.
Frashure described the verbiage and rants in the letter as definite threats.
“If we would have gotten the letters beforehand, it would have merited an investigation and likely arrest,” said Frashure.
The letter, obtained by the Baltimore Sun, was dated June 28, the same day as the shooting. It was written in the format of a court filing to Maryland’s Court of Appeals — the state’s highest court, and contains an apparent admission of guilt.
“I then did proceed to the office of respondent Capital-Gazette Communications … with the objective of killing every person present,” the letter said.
Out of the 11 people in the newsroom at the time of the shooting, five were killed. Two others were injured.
Police have said officers were able to respond within a minute of the 911 call. County patrol officers were clearing an accident on Bestgate Road, Frashure said, when the call came in from the office building down the street.
Eight county officers were first to enter the newsroom alongside two sheriffs deputies and two Annapolis police officers, he said. Inside, he said they found Ramos shot out the glass door to the office, which employees need a key card to open.
“They went in with such force,” Frashure said of the response.
During active-shooter training, Frashure said, officers are taught to push toward the threat so they become the aggressor and put the suspect on the defensive. If they can throw him off his plan, it buys them time to save lives and “neutralize the threat,” he said.
The team of eight was able to find Ramos within two minutes, Frashure said.
