Phoenix vigil planned to honor victims of Maryland newspaper shooting
Jun 29, 2018, 3:32 PM
PHOENIX – The Phoenix chapter of a professional journalism association has planned a vigil to honor the victims of Thursday’s shooting at a Maryland newspaper.
The Society of Professional Journalists invited journalists and the public to a vigil at 8 p.m. Saturday at Steele Indian School Park (300 E. Indian School Road).
Tim Eigo, president of the group’s Valley of the Sun chapter, will give brief remarks in honor of the five staffers killed at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland.
A gunman with a vendetta against the newspaper burst into the newsroom firing a pump-action shotgun, killing assistant managing editor Rob Hiaasen, editorial page editor Gerald Fischman, special projects editor Wendi Winters, reporter John McNamara and sales assistant Rebecca Smith. Multiple others were wounded.
The suspect, Jarrod W. Ramos, held a grudge against the paper that included a string of menacing online messages and a failed defamation lawsuit over an article about him pleading guilty to harassing a woman.
Police looked into the online threats in 2013, but the paper declined at the time to press charges for fear of inflaming the situation, according to Anne Arundel County Police Chief Timothy Altomare.
Ramos was taken into custody and is being held without bail on five counts of murder.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
