• e-mail

A jury found Jarrod Ramos (pictured) criminally responsible for killing five people when he opened fire inside the Capital Gazette newsroom on Thursday

Capitol Gazette gunman Jarrod Ramos has been found criminally responsible for killing five people when he opened fire inside the Maryland newspaper's newsroom in 2018. 

A jury on Thursday found that 41-year-old Ramos had the mental and emotional capacity to be held responsible for the mass shooting on June 28, 2018 in Annapolis, Maryland. 

Ramos has been detained at the Anne Arundel County jail since the killings and faces life in prison.  

Ramos' public defenders requested a sanity trial in an attempt to have him committed to a maximum-security psychiatric hospital instead of going to prison.

His attorneys argued that he could not be held criminally responsible for the mass shooting due to mental disorders which did not allow him the capacity to comprehend him crimes. 

Anne Arundel County State's Attorney Anne Colt Leitess explained that Ramos' meticulously calculated actions proved that he knew and understood exactly what he was doing and what the consequences would be. 

Jarrod Ramos has been found criminally responsible for the 2018 Capital Gazette newsroom shooting and faces life in prison

The deranged gunman chose the specific date because there were supposed to be many people in the newsroom that day. He blocked the exits to trap his victims and set decoys for law enforcement to slow their response, called 911 once his killing spree was done, and made sure he was no longer armed and laid on the floor until police arrived so they wouldn’t shoot him. 

Ramos also bought a lifetime membership to a chess club in the days leading up to the attack so he could play in prison.  

Last week survivors of the mass shooting described the terror of hiding for their lives under desks in their newsroom. 

Six people who were inside the Capital Gazette newsroom during the shooting were among the first called by prosecutors trying to prove to a jury that Ramos understood the criminality of his actions and was not insane at the time of the long-planned attack.

The sight of a shot colleague, the near miss of a shotgun blast, the passing flashlight at the end of the gunman's weapon and the sounds of shells reloading were part of the survivors' accounts of the attack that lasted only minutes but left five dead. 

Reporter Selene San Felice, left, and photojournalist Paul W. Gillespie, second left, testified at the trial on Friday

Paul W. Gillespie, right, is joined by page designer Greg Nucifora, left, and reporter Selene San Felice as he lights a candle before a moment of silence in 2018 to commemorate their fallen co-workers

Surveillance video shows what authorities say is Jarrod Ramos shooting open the door of the Capital Gazette office on June 28, 2018

In another photo, an employee is seen running for his life during the horrific attack

During the trial on Friday, a model of the former Capital Gazette newspaper office is displayed as survivors showed jurors where they were in the newsroom at the time of the attack

A photograph of the 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun authorities say was used by Jarrod Ramos in the mass shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper is shown in evidence

Two devices used as door barricades recovered at the site of the Capital Gazette newspaper during a mass shooting in 2018 are shown in the courtroom in June 

'I was waiting to die, and so I was praying,' said Selene San Felice, who was a reporter at the paper.

She recalled watching her colleague John McNamara get hit by a shotgun blast while she was hiding under a desk with intern Anthony Messenger. 

McNamara was killed along with Wendi Winters, Rebecca Smith, Gerald Fischman and Rob Hiaasen. 

'Once John got shot, I thought we were going to die,' Messenger testified.

Paul Gillespie, a photographer, said he heard shotgun pellets breeze by after Ramos fired at him, just before he ran out of the newsroom to safety.

Janel Cooley, an advertising sales representative, testified to hearing a loud explosion as Ramos blasted through the entrance, shaking the whole office.

Cooley testified to seeing Winters charge Ramos with a trash can in one hand and a recycling bin in the other before he shot her and kept moving through the newsroom.

'He was walking very purposefully, very methodically,' Cooley said.

Rachael Pacella, a reporter at the newspaper, described hiding under her desk at first, but as the gunshots moved closer she decided to run out a back door - which Ramos had blocked earlier with a device to trap employees inside. 

She tripped, banged her head on a door and hid between file cabinets, where she could see the flashlight from Ramos´ shotgun just feet away as he passed.

Phil Davis, who was a reporter at the paper, described hearing Ramos reload near where he hid under a desk.

During the trial on Friday, a model of the former Capital Gazette newspaper office was also displayed as survivors showed jurors where they were in the newsroom at the time of the attack.

Prosecutors also called insurance agent Keith Cyphers, who worked across the hallway from the office, to testify, the Capital Gazette reported on Friday.

Cyphers recalled seeing Ramos enter the newsroom and called the police as the gunshots rang out. 

Prosecutors played the audio from his 911 call in the courtroom on Friday.

Lynne Griffin cries and hugs a television reporter after saying a prayer at a makeshift memorial outside of The Capital Gazette newspaper in 2018. Griffin was a journalism student of slain Gazette columnist and editor Rob Hiaasen

Annapolis city officials comfort each other at the press conference following the Capital Gazette shooting in Annapolis in 2018

Pictures of five employees of the Capital Gazette newspaper adorn candles during a vigil across the street from where they were slain in the newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland

The shooting victims are pictured from left: John McNamara, Wendi Winters, Rob Hiaasen, Gerald Fischman and Rebecca Smith

Ryan McGeeney, a corporal with the Anne Arundel County Police Department, also testified during the trial on Friday, the outlet reported.

McGeeney was one of the first officers to arrive at the scene and told the court how he rushed through the lobby of the office building 'where people were unaware of the horrors happening down the hallway,' the Capital Gazette reported.

The officer recalled how, with four other officers, he crossed the lobby and saw shattered glass and a body - which is when he realized the 911 call for an active shooter had been real.

The cops were seen on body camera footage entering a hallway filled with smoke - which Ramos' lawyers said was caused by a smoke grenade he detonated to deter them, the Capital Gazette reported. 

In total, 16 witnesses were called before the jury on Friday, WMAR reported. 

In this courtroom sketch, Defense attorney Elizabeth Palan, right, questions Michelle Jeans, the sister of Jarrod Ramos, about their childhood on July 1

In this courtroom sketch, the jury looks on as the defense's leading medical expert, Dr. Catherine Yeager, shares her evaluation of Jarrod Ramos on Tuesday

In this courtroom sketch, Dr. Thomas Hyde, left, turns towards the jury when he gave his evaluation of Jarrod Ramos last Friday

Jarrod Ramos appears in Anne Arundle County Circuit Court in 2019 

Ramos already pleaded guilty to all 23 counts against him in 2019, but was attempting to avoid jail time due to his mental health. 

The defense, which went first in presenting its case, had the burden of proof by a 'preponderance of the evidence.' That means defense attorneys were trying to show that it was more likely than not that Ramos was not criminally responsible.

Defense attorneys argude Ramos suffered from a paranoid delusion in which the newspaper and the courts conspired to block his efforts to restore his reputation after the publication of a 2011 article about him pleading guilty to a harassment charge against a former high school classmate. 

His 2012 lawsuit, which alleged that the paper defamed him, was dismissed as groundless. His appeals failed.

Before the defense had rested its case on Thursday, Ramos' attorneys presented renowned psychiatrist Dr. Dorothy Lewis as a witness, WJZ reported.

Lewis testified that Ramos' cat was his only significant relationship and that he called the cat his 'fur wife,' and that he had carried out the shooting when the cat died.

'I think it was that relationship that tied him a little bit to reality,' Dr. Lewis said.

Lilly Price, a reporter for the Capital Gazette, tweeted that defense attorneys said Ramos 'laid on the couch for two weeks with his cat without getting up and would pee in bottles.'

'Prosecutors, while questioning Lewis, presented an email Ramos sent his vet describing getting up from bed with the cat to brush his teeth and eat,' she tweeted.

Leitess said in her opening statement on Thursday that while Ramos has personality disorders like narcissism, he does not have serious mental illness that qualifies him to be found not criminally responsible for five murders. 

'He has issues with his personality,' Leitess told the jury, according to WJLA. 

'They are things that make him eccentric or odd — not things that make him insane.' 

She contends Ramos attacked the paper out of revenge for the article.