Capital Gazette's Opinion Page Left Blank Day After Annapolis Shooting: 'We Are Speechless'

Five were killed in what officials have called a "targeted attack."

After five of their colleagues were killed at their offices Thursday, the staff of the Capital Gazette stayed late to put out Friday's edition of the Annapolis, Md.-based paper.

As part of that edition, the opinion page was left "intentionally blank," the editors wrote, to commemorate the victims of what officials called a "targeted attack."

"Today, we are speechless," the page read. Following the statement were the names of those killed in the shooting.

"Tomorrow this Capital page will return to its steady purpose of offering readers informed opinion about the world around them, that they might be better citizens," the editors added. 

Five people were killed and others injured when a gunman stormed the officers of the Capital Gazette Thursday afternoon. The suspect, identified as 38-year-old Jarrod Ramos, reportedly had a long-running feud with the paper, law enforcement sources told the Baltimore Sun, which owns the Capital Gazette. 

The Capital Gazette

Ramos had previously filed a defamation suit against the paper and a columnist over an article that covered him, according to The Sun.

The paper received threats via social media ahead of Thursday's shooting, officials said.

The victims have been identified as four journalists — Wendi Winters, Robert Hiaasen, Gerald Fischman and John McNamara — and sales assistant Rebecca Smith.

Ramos has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder, court records show. He is scheduled to be arraigned Friday morning. It's not clear whether he has an attorney.

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