Last Updated Jun 29, 2018 11:47 AM EDT
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The suspect in a deadly rampage at a Maryland newspaper building barricaded the back exit of the offices so as to prevent victims from escaping, according to a prosecutor. Wes Adams made the statements during a court hearing Friday morning.
Jarrod Ramos, the suspect, was ordered held without bail. Judge Thomas Pryal said Friday that he found a likelihood that Ramos is a danger.
There was one person who attempted to escape, and was shot and killed by Ramos, the prosecutor said.
Adams also alleged Ramos planned to escape, but that plan was thwarted when police arrived.
Ramos appeared in an Annapolis courtroom via video feed. He appeared to watch attentively during the hearing but never spoke. He was dressed in blue detention clothing.
Ramos, who had a long-standing grudge against the Capital Gazette newspaper, was charged Friday with five counts of first-degree murder after police said he blasted his way into the newsroom with a shotgun in an attack that left four journalists and a sales employee dead.
Ramos was swiftly arrested as he tried to hide under a desk Thursday afternoon at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, police said.
Acting Police Chief William Krampf of Anne Arundel County said the gunman “looked for his victims” in the newsroom.
“This person was prepared today to come in. This person was prepared to shoot people,” Krampf said.
The suspect used a pump-action shotgun legally purchased about a year ago, Anne Arundel County police chief Timothy Altomare confirmed at a press conference Friday. He said investigators have executed a search warrant on the suspect’s home and uncovered evidence indicating he had planned the attack.
“The fellow was there to kill as many people as he could kill,” Altomare said.
Altomare wouldn’t detail what investigators found, but said they did not uncover a written manifesto.
He said the suspect has not been cooperating.
Altomare said the suspect had a history with county police and had made threats online in 2013. A detective spoke with legal counsel for the Capital Gazette and several members of the Capital Gazette staff at the time, but the newspaper didn’t wish to pursue criminal charges over “a fear that doing so would exacerbate an already flammable situation.”
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