Annapolis Shooting: Here Are The 5 Capital Gazette Victims

ANNAPOLIS, MD — They wrote editorials and columns, covered community news and sporting events, and sold ads for the Capital Gazette, the Annapolis newspaper whose office was the scene Thursday of one of the worst attacks in decades on U.S. media. Together, the five people shot and killed and two others injured were a solid news crew, dedicating their careers to a newspaper that traces its roots to Colonial days.

Police said Jarrod Ramos, of Laurel, Maryland, made a “targeted attack” on the newspaper. Through the chaos, reporters provided the eyewitness accounts that are a hallmark of journalism, sharing the gut wrenching ordeal in a series of tweets sent from their crouched positions under desks, where they shielded themselves from the gunman’s bullets.

Here’s a look at the five victims:

Rob Hiaasen, 59, Assistant Editor / Sunday Columnist

Rob Hiaasen, a former award-winning feature writer with the Baltimore Sun and Palm Beach Post who joined the Capital as an assistant editor in 2010 and wrote a Sunday column. He had also taught at the University of Maryland.

Novelist and Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen, told The Washington Post his brother was “an incredibly gentle, generous and gifted guy,” and former Capital reporter Tina Reed called him a “philosopher and poet” and “coach and mentor” with an interest in teaching young journalists to succeed.

His brother was “so proud of those reporters (and) the other editors,” Carl Hiaasen told CNN. “What he would want me to say was everything (they did) was for the readers.”

On a Facebook post, he called his brother “Big Rob” because of his towering stature, but said it was his “remarkable heart and humor that made him larger than all of us."

“He spent his whole gifted career as a journalist, and he believed profoundly in the craft and mission of serving the public's right to know the news,” he added.

He is survived by children and his wife of 33 years, his brother said.

Gerald Fischman, 61, Editorial Page Editor

For 25 years, Gerald Fischman was the conscious of the Capital Gazette, cleverly weaving an “an encyclopedia of knowledge” into insightful editorials about the community. He was known to be quiet, reserved and quirky, but had a wry wit, wicked pen and extraordinary brilliance, his colleagues told The Baltimore Sun.

“He had ability that, I thought, deserved a higher calling than The Capital,” longtime editor and publisher Tom Marquardt told the newspaper. “He was a great writer. He was a really smart guy, so smart that he tried out for ‘Jeopardy!’ twice,” Marquardt said. “But he couldn’t get accepted because they didn’t like his personality. That was Gerald’s spin, anyway.”

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He believed fiercely in the role of the editorial page. In a December column looking back at some of the events during President Trump’s tumultuous first year in office, he wrote: “The newspaper editorial page — on which the issues of the day are dissected not just by staff-written editorials but by guest columnists and letter writers — may be the best way to read a community’s mind.”

He was a consummate professional who served his local audience, putting local elections on par with national contests.

“Gerald was a phenomenally smart man. When I sat for my endorsement interviews in 2010, he made it clear to me it was to be earned and by no means was guaranteed,” former Anne Arundel County Councilman Jamie Benoit told The Sun. “He asked tough questions and exposed every weakness in my legislative record. He treated council races like they were presidential races.”

Recent accolades include two awards from the Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia Press Association for editorials about a County Council member accused of censoring public comments at meetings and the case of a teenager who was accused of hanging a noose outside a middle school.

Fischman graduated from the University of Maryland in 1979. He was married late in his life to an opera singer from Mongolia that he met online.

John McNamara, 56, Sports Reporter

John McNamara was a fixture in the Capital Gazette newsroom for more than 20 years. A “jack of all trades,” he could do many jobs at the newspaper, but covering regional sports was his “dream job,” his colleagues said.

“At a small paper like that, you have to be versatile,” said former Capital Gazette sports editor Gerry Jackson, who hired “Mac,” as he was known, years ago. “He could write. He could edit. He could design pages. He was just a jack of all trades and a fantastic person.”

McNamara’s colleagues praised his flexibility and concise writing, as well a razor-sharp wit that produced some memorable one-liners, longtime Baltimore Sun reporter Jeff Barker recalled of the time the two spent together covering University of Maryland sports.

“That was the journalist in him,” Barker said. “But he was a loyal friend with an infectious laugh, and he was a willing mentor for young journalists. In other words, he never allowed his professional distance to detract from just being a thoroughly decent person.”

McNamara has written two books about the University of Maryland’s football and basketball history, and he was working on another book about baseball players raised in the Washington, D.C., area, according to The Baltimore Sun.

A 1983 graduate of the University of Maryland, he also had worked at The Herald-Mail in Hagerstown, Maryland, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Rebecca Smith, 34, Sales Assistant

Rebecca Smith was a newcomer to the Capital Gazette, joining the staff last year as a sales assistant. She had worked in marketing for a health care organization.

Her boss, advertising director Marty Padden, said she was “a very thoughtful person.”

“She was kind and considerate, and willing to help when needed,” Padden said in a Capital Gazette account. “She seemed to really enjoy working in the media business.”

Smith described herself in her Facebook profile as a survivor of endometriosis and "Dog Mom. Softball Fiance. Bonus Mom to the best kid ever.”

Wendi Winters, 65, Editor / Community Reporter

Wendi Winters set aside a career in fashion and public relations in New York City 20 years ago and moved to Maryland, where she began working as a stringer for the Capital Gazette. Her reliability as a freelance writer and well-known community resource earned her a permanent spot at the newspaper in 2013.

She loved and was talented at documenting both people’s individual achievements and community milestones, former Capital Gazette community news editor Leslie Hunt told The Baltimore Sun.

“She loves the news business,” Hunt said.

“She really loved storytelling,” added Kathryn Flynn, a longtime editor at the Capital Gazette. “She loved working with people.”

Her daughter, Winters Geimer, told The Sun that her mother was “a wonderful woman and a fantastic reporter.”

“Her life was a gift to everyone who knew her and the world will not be the same without her,” she said.

Winters studied fashion design at Virginia Commonwealth University and ran her own boutique company in New York specializing in runway shows and other fashion events. She wasn’t formally trained in journalism, but said in an online profile that she learned to report from her professional experience and her role as a mother.

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Image: Friday’s edition of the Capital Gazette for sale on a newspaper stand, on June 29, 2018 in Annapolis, Maryland. A day earlier, five people were shot and killed in the daily newspaper’s newsroom by a lone gunman. Jarrod Ramos of Laurel, Maryland, has been arrested and charged. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)