Jarrod Ramos, the suspected shooter in Thursday’s attack on The Capital Gazette in Annapolis, was ordered held without bail Friday.
State’s Attorney Wes Adams told Anne Arundel District Court Judge Thomas Pryal that Ramos should not receive bail because of the tactical strategy used in the attack.
“There were two entrances to the offices in which this attack occurred. The rear door was barricaded,” Adams told the press following the hearing. “Mr. Ramos then entered into the front door and worked his way through the office.”
Judge Pryal agreed that Ramos is a threat to the community and ruled that bail would not be appropriate.
William Davis, an Anne Arundel County public defender represented the 38-year-old Ramos, who appeared by way of a video link with the county Detention Center wearing navy blue detention scrubs. He remained silent throughout the hearing.
Davis asked Judge Pryal to issue a gag order to keep those involved in the case from talking to the press, but Pryal denied that request and asked for a motion in writing.
Prosecutor Adams did not respond directly about Davis’s request.
“I have no further comment on any of his motivations or anything about the press,” said Adams.
In a news conference at about the same time as the bail hearing, county police said Ramos used a pump shotgun that he had purchased legally about a year ago and smoke grenades.
The charging documents say that after killing five Capital Gazette employees, Ramos “attempted to conceal himself under a desk until the police arrived where they located him.”
Anne Arundel Police Chief Timothy Altomare said he wasn’t sure why Ramos hid.
“When the officers went in they were going in there to neutralize a threat I think that became very clear very quickly,” said Altomare. “And I think fight or flight kicks in certain ways and I don’t know why but flight won.”
Ryan Frashure, police department spokesperson, denied reports on social media that Ramos had mutilated his finger prints to avoid identification.
“I can’t stress enough all the things we’ve seen on social media and all the emails we’ve been getting,” said Frashure. “The information about the suspects fingerprints being mutilated absolutely untrue. We have no idea where that information came from.”
Altomare said police used facial recognition tools to identify Ramos.
“We were able to use that and a couple other techniques to identify the bad guy,” said Altomare. “Make sure we knew who the bad guy was. I will not say his name today.”
Police found Ramos’ car parked near the building, and evidence in his apartment in Laurel that showed that he had been planning the shooting.
“What we found was more stuff to distract people and confuse people than it was to introduce causalities, if that makes sense as far as devices,” said Altomare. “The fellow was there to kill as many people as he could kill.”
