State To Give $300K To Annapolis Newspaper Shooting Memorial

ANNAPOLIS, MD (AP) — Maryland is set to award $300,000 for the construction of a memorial honoring the victims of a deadly shooting at a newspaper office.

The state plans to award the funds next week for a memorial that will be located in an Annapolis park and pay tribute to slain Capital Gazette employees John McNamara, Gerald Fischman, Wendi Winters, Rob Hiaasen and Rebecca Smith, the newspaper reported.

The memorial, called “Guardians of Free Speech,” will include five pillars in front of the text of the First Amendment carved in stone, the newspaper said.

The project is set to be unveiled in June 2021 on the three-year anniversary of the shooting in which authorities said a man with a history of harassing people at the paper burst into the Annapolis newsroom and opened fire.

Jarrod Ramos pleaded guilty in the killings.

Gov. Larry Hogan proclaimed June 28 “Freedom of the Press Day” in honor of the slain newspaper employees.

“Two years ago today, five Marylanders lost their lives to a heinous and unthinkable act of violence,” Hogan said. “Today, as we honor those we lost and all who have lost their lives in the pursuit of informing our citizens, we recognize the vital role that the freedom of the press has in our democracy and our duty to honor and protect this most fundamental constitutional right.”

View the proclamation here.

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