Capital Gazette shooting suspect Jarrod Ramos was linked to three letters mailed before the attack leaving five dead, with one of the letters saying the legal system had left him only the option of wreaking vengeance against the Annapolis newspaper.
That letter, turned over to police by the Gazette's former attorney, was signed by Ramos and dated June 28, the day of the mass shooting that killed four journalists and one other staffer at the Maryland newspaper, the Baltimore Sun reported.
The letter reportedly said he was on his way to the Gazette "with the objective of killing every person present." The letter included instructions to share a copy with former Capital Gazette publisher Thomas Marquardt.
Anne Arundel County Police told the Sun they believed Ramos also sent letters to Maryland's Court of Special Appeals and to a Baltimore City judge.
County police spokesman Marc Limansky declined to discuss specifics of those letters, but he said they were threatening and contained Ramos' name and address. Authorities said they believe those letters also were sent before the shooting.
Ramos, 38, was being held without bond after being charged on Friday with five counts of first-degree murder in the shooting at the Capital Gazette, NBC News reported.
Prosecutors charged that Ramos opened fire in the newsroom Thursday afternoon with a pump-action shotgun in a "coordinated" attack six years after he unsuccessfully sued the newspaper for defamation.
The letter received by the Gazette's former attorney was written in the style of a court filing, titled "Motion for Reconsideration" by Maryland's top court, which refused to hear his defamation case in 2016, the Sun noted.
"You were too cowardly to confront those lies, and this is your receipt," the letter stated, according to the Sun. "I told you so."
The letter added, "I further certify I then did proceed to the office of respondent Capital-Gazette Communications … with the objective of killing every person present."
A letter attached to the stylized filing was addressed to retired Judge Charles Moylan Jr., who had written a scathing opinion against Ramos as part of the defamation case, the Sun reported.
"Welcome, Mr. Moylan, to your unexpected legacy: YOU should have died," the letter said, according to the Sun. "Friends forever, Jarrod W. Ramos."
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