Capital Gazette Shooting: Suspect Sued Newspaper Prior

On Thursday, a man opened fire at The Capital Gazette in Maryland. Five people were shot and killed at the publication's offices.

The 38-year-old man suspected of killing the five people has been identified as Jarrod Warren Ramos, a resident of Laurel, Maryland.

According to reports, Ramos who sued the newspaper and one of its journalists in 2012, alleging defamation.

Thomas Hartley, a former columnist for The Capital, the group’s flagship paper, wrote a column describing the suspect’s interactions with an unnamed woman Ramos contacted over Facebook, court documents showed. Hartley said Ramos had sent her numerous emails in which he called her vulgar names and told her to kill herself.

Previously, Ramos pled guilty to criminal harassment five days before Hartley published his column ,according to records.

The lawsuit was dismissed in 2013, and an appellate court upheld the dismissal in 2015.

According to news reports, Ramos is not cooperating with the police.