Jarrod Ramos shot the Capital Gazette in Annapolis on June 28, 2018. As a result of the attack, five people were killed and two were injured.
At first, Ramos argued that dementia should be sent to a hospital, not a prison. However, in July, a jury found him guilty.
His life sentence was announced on Tuesday at a hearing at which his victims were able to voice their opinions. According to the reporters present, Ramos listened dispassionately to both his testimony and his own verdict, forcing him to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Considered a lonely and worried man, Ramos has had a controversial relationship with Capital Gazette as he has unsuccessfully attacked the same place and voiced threats online in the past.
He criticized the newspaper for the article “Jarrod Wants to Be Your Friend,” which recounts the martyrdom of a young woman he persecuted on the Internet. Under this denunciation article, he was sentenced to 90 days of imprisonment on parole.
Ramos spent two years preparing the 2018 attack and even joined the chess club, expecting to spend many years in prison.
The massacre, one of the most serious attacks on a newspaper in the United States, has generated widespread resonance. Then-President Donald Trump called it “terrible” and “a drama for the conscience” of the country.
“The impact of this case is enormous,” Judge Michael Wax said at the hearing. “To my dismay, he said that planning this attack was the best moment in his life,” the judge added, according to local media reports.
