Grief in small town: March honors victims of newsroom attack

Quietly clutching candles or hoisting #AnnapolisStrong signs, more than 1,000 people streamed through Maryland's capital, remembering five people slain in a newspaper office not just as gatekeepers of the news but as a crucial piece of their tight-knit community.

Friends, former co-workers and people who felt connected to the victims took part in a strikingly silent candlelit march Friday night to honor the employees of The Capital newspaper who were killed a day earlier in one of the deadliest attacks on journalists in U.S. history.

Mourners stand in silence during a vigil in response to a shooting at the Capital Gazette newsroom, Friday, June 29, 2018, in Annapolis, Md. Prosecutors say 38-year-old Jarrod W. Ramos opened fire Thursday in the newsroom. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Melissa Wilson, who came to the vigil with her husband, Benjamin, their 9-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son, said many Annapolis residents have "one degree of separation" from at least one victim.

"The people who made our newspaper are people we felt we knew, even if we had never met them before," Benjamin Wilson said.

Melissa Wilson's employer has offices in the same building as the newspaper and her co-workers were there when a gunman methodically blasted his way through the newsroom with a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun.

Jarrod W. Ramos has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder. Authorities say he has a longtime grudge against the paper, suing it in 2012 after it ran an article about him pleading guilty to harassing a woman. He also sent a barrage of menacing tweets that led to an investigation five years ago.

A detective concluded he was no threat, and the paper didn't want to press charges for fear of "putting a stick in a beehive."

People hug as they gather for a vigil in response to a shooting in the Capital Gazette newsroom, Friday, June 29, 2018, in Annapolis, Md. Prosecutors say Jarrod W. Ramos opened fire Thursday in the newsroom. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

But residents focused on the victims: assistant managing editor Rob Hiaasen, editorial page editor Gerald Fischman, special projects editor Wendi Winters, reporter John McNamara and sales assistant Rebecca Smith.

David Marsters, who worked at the newspaper from 2008 to 2016 and knew four of the slain employees, said the outpouring of grief over their deaths is a testament to the special bond the newspaper has with its readers.

"They were great people who did amazing work in the community," he said.

He took part in the march that ended at a waterfront harbor called "City Dock," where laughter and the noise of playing children usually carries across the restaurants, bars and shops. But not on Friday.

"For it to be so still and so somber, especially on a Friday night, it's startling," Kit O'Neill said, describing Annapolis as "a small town with a big heart."

"And the Gazette is its mighty newspaper," she added.

Earlier, dozens of mourners gathered at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis to pay tribute to congregation member Wendi Winters and the other victims.

The Rev. Fred Muir's voice cracked as he described the mounting dread he felt Thursday as it became clear Winters didn't survive. He described her as a beloved "pillar of her community."

"Everybody has a Wendi Winters story. She was a force to be reckoned with," he said.

Carol Geithner, left, and Yasemin Jamison gather for a candlelight vigil across the street from where five journalists were slain in their newsroom in Annapolis, Md., Friday, June 29, 2018. Prosecutors say 38-year-old Jarrod W. Ramos opened fire Thursday in the Capital Gazette newsroom. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Muir said the shock and grief have reverberated across Annapolis, a city he described as a small town where many people knew somebody who worked at the newspaper.

In the attack, police said Ramos barricaded the rear exit of the office to prevent anyone from escaping, gunning down one victim trying to slip out the back.

His public defenders had no comment after he was denied bail in a brief court appearance. He was placed on suicide watch.

Ramos had repeatedly targeted staffers with angry, profanity-laced tweets, launching so many online attacks that then-publisher Tom Marquardt called police in 2013.

A detective investigated, holding a conference call with an attorney for the publishing company, a former correspondent and the paper's publisher, Anne Arundel County Police Chief Timothy Altomare said.

A police report said the attorney produced a trove of tweets in which Ramos "makes mention of blood in the water, journalist hell, hit man, open season, glad there won't be murderous rampage, murder career."

People gather for a candlelight vigil across the street from where five journalists were slain in their newsroom in Annapolis, Md., Friday, June 29, 2018. Prosecutors say Jarrod W. Ramos opened fire Thursday in the Capital Gazette newsroom. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The detective, Michael Praley, said in the report that he "did not believe that Mr. Ramos was a threat to employees" at the paper, noting that Ramos hadn't tried to enter the building and hadn't sent "direct, threatening correspondence."

"As of this writing the Capital will not pursue any charges," Praley wrote. "It was described as putting a stick in a beehive which the Capital Newspaper representatives do not wish to do."

Marquardt, the former publisher, said he talked with the newspaper's attorneys about seeking a restraining order but didn't because he and others thought it could provoke Ramos to do something worse.

Later, in 2015, Ramos tweeted that he would like to see the paper stop publishing, but "it would be nicer" to see two of its journalists "cease breathing."

Then Ramos "went silent" for more than two years, Marquardt said.

"This led us to believe that he had moved on, but for whatever reason, he decided to resurrect his issue with The Capital yesterday," the former publisher said. "We don't know why."

The police chief said new posts went up just before the killings but authorities didn't know about them until later.

Little has been released about Ramos, other than that he is single, has no children and lives in an apartment in Laurel, Maryland. He was employed by an IT contractor for the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2007 to 2014, a department spokesman said.

The rampage began with a shotgun blast that shattered the glass entrance to the open newsroom. Ramos carefully planned the attack, using "a tactical approach in hunting down and shooting the innocent people," prosecutor Wes Adams said.

Tanner Piekarski, left, and Kylie Myles hold signs during a vigil in response to a shooting at The Capital Gazette newspaper office, Friday, June 29, 2018, in Annapolis, Md. Prosecutors say Jarrod W. Ramos opened fire Thursday in the Capital Gazette newsroom. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Journalists crawled under desks, describing agonizing minutes of terror as they heard the gunman's footsteps and the repeated blasts.

"I was curled up, trying not to breathe, trying not to make a sound, and he shot people all around me," photographer Paul Gillespie, who dove beneath a desk, told The Baltimore Sun, owner of the Annapolis paper.

Gillespie said he heard a colleague scream, "No!" A gunshot blast followed. He heard another co-worker's voice, then another shot.

The chief said Ramos' shotgun was legally purchased about a year ago despite his guilty plea in the harassment case. He also carried smoke grenades, authorities said.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The man who broke into the home of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seeking to hold her hostage and bludgeoned her husband with a hammer was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison.

But prosecutors later filed a motion saying the court failed to offer the defendant, David DePape, an opportunity “to speak or present any information to mitigate the sentence" as required by federal rule. They asked the court to reopen the sentencing portion to allow him that option. The court did not immediately respond.

A jury found DePape, 44, guilty in November of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official. Prosecutors had asked for a 40-year prison term.

The attack on Paul Pelosi, who was 82 at the time, was captured on police body camera video just days before the 2022 midterm elections and sent shockwaves through the political world. He suffered two head wounds including a skull fracture that was mended with plates and screws he will have for the rest of his life. His right arm and hand were also injured.

Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley sentenced DePape to 20 years for attempted kidnapping and 30 years for the assault, the maximum for both counts. The sentences will run concurrently. He also was given credit for the 18 months he has been in custody.

In its afternoon motion to the court, the U.S. attorney's office said DePape was not given the opportunity by the court to speak before being sentenced and that could present an issue.

DePape's defense, however, said they opposed bringing back their client to court and filed a notice of appeal, according to the filing. Prosecutors and defense counsel did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment late Friday.

The court has 14 days to correct a sentence resulting from error, prosecutors said.

DePape stood silently as he was sentenced and looked down at times. His public defense attorneys had asked the judge to sentence him to 14 years, pointing out that he was going through a difficult period in his life at the time of the attack, had undiagnosed mental health issues and had no prior criminal history.

At trial, DePape testified that he had planned to wear an inflatable unicorn costume and record his interrogation of the Democratic speaker, who was not at her San Francisco home at the time of the attack, to upload it online.

Ahead of the sentencing, one of his defense attorneys, Angela Chuang, told the judge to consider the prison terms being given to those who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

"The five most serious sentences for people who were convicted of seditious conspiracy, of literally conspiring to overthrow the government, range from 15 to 22 years," Chuang said.

Corley said the Jan. 6 analogy didn’t adequately reflect the seriousness of breaking into an official's private home. The attack may have a chilling effect on people seeking office in the future, she said.

“They have to think not only, ‘Am I willing to take that risk myself, but am I willing to risk my spouse, my children, my grandchildren?’” the judge said.

Prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence on each count and for DePape to serve 10 years concurrently, giving him a 40-year prison term.

Before sentencing, Christine Pelosi read her father and mother's victim statements, explaining how the violent attack changed their lives. In Paul Pelosi's statement, he explained that 18 months after the attack, he still gets headaches and vertigo and has fainted and fallen twice at home.

“Once you are attacked in such a public and political manner, with such threatening language, you always have to fear a copycat,” Nancy Pelosi said in her statement. “When I encourage people, especially women to consider running for office, physical threats to the family should not even be a factor, but they are.”

Both Paul and Nancy Pelosi said there are still bloodstains on the floor and other signs of the break-in at their home.

“Our home remains a heartbreaking crime scene,” Nancy Pelosi wrote.

DePape admitted during trial testimony that he broke into the Pelosis’ home Oct. 28, 2022, intending to hold the speaker hostage and “break her kneecaps” if she lied to him. He also admitted to bludgeoning Paul Pelosi with a hammer after police showed up, saying his plan to end what he viewed as government corruption was unraveling.

Defense attorneys argued DePape was motivated by his political beliefs, not because he wanted to interfere with Nancy Pelosi’s official duties as a member of Congress, making the charges against him invalid.

Chuang, one of his attorneys, said during closing arguments that DePape was estranged from his family and was caught up in conspiracy theories.

Sky Gonzalez, David DePape’s son, told reporters outside court the 30-year prison term was equivalent to getting a death sentence.

“I think that’s quite sad. I think that’s a really long time, because if you think about it, he’s already nearly 50. Basically, it’s just a death sentence," Gonzalez said before repeating the same conspiracy theories his father wrote about before the attack.

At trial DePape, a Canadian who moved to the U.S. more than 20 years ago, testified that he believed news outlets repeatedly lied about former President Donald Trump. In rants posted on a blog and online forum that were taken down after his arrest, DePape echoed the baseless, right-wing QAnon conspiracy theory that claims a cabal of devil-worshipping pedophiles runs the U.S. government.

Prosecutors said he had rope and zip ties with him, and detectives found body cameras, a computer and a tablet.

Paul Pelosi recalled at the trial how he was awakened by a large man bursting into the bedroom and asking, “Where’s Nancy?” He said that when he responded that his wife was in Washington, DePape said he would tie him up while they waited for her.

“It was a tremendous sense of shock to recognize that somebody had broken into the house, and looking at him and looking at the hammer and the ties, I recognized that I was in serious danger, so I tried to stay as calm as possible,” Pelosi told jurors.

DePape also is charged in state court with assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, residential burglary and other felonies. Jury selection in that trial is expected to start Wednesday.

Sergio Lopez, acting assistant agent in charge of the FBI, speaks to reporters after the sentencing of David DePape in federal court Friday, May 17, 2024, in San Francisco. DePape was found guilty last November of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on Paul Pelosi, husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Sergio Lopez, acting assistant agent in charge of the FBI, speaks to reporters after the sentencing of David DePape in federal court Friday, May 17, 2024, in San Francisco. DePape was found guilty last November of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on Paul Pelosi, husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Gypsy Taub, ex-partner of David DePape, speaks to reporters after DePape's sentencing in federal court Friday, May 17, 2024, in San Francisco. He was found guilty last November of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on Paul Pelosi, husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

FILE - Paul Pelosi attends a portrait unveiling ceremony for his wife, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in Statuary Hall at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 14, 2022. David DePape who was convicted last year in federal court of breaking into former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home will be sentenced in federal court Friday, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE – David DePape is seen, Dec. 13, 2013, in Berkeley, Calif. DePape convicted of attempting to kidnap then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and attacking her husband with a hammer is set to be sentenced in federal court Friday, May 17, 2024. (Michael Short/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, File)

FILE - In this image taken from San Francisco Police Department body-camera video, the husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Paul Pelosi, right, fights for control of a hammer with his assailant David DePape during a brutal attack in the couple's San Francisco home, on Oct. 28, 2022. DePape convicted of attempting to kidnap then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and attacking her husband with a hammer is set to be sentenced in federal court Friday, May 17, 2024. (San Francisco Police Department via AP, File)