“Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow”

“E.B. Furgurson III, a reporter who, after five of his colleagues at the Maryland newspaper The Capital were massacred in their newsroom by a grudge-fueled gunman, helped produce the next day’s issue from his pickup truck, died on Nov. 25 in Annapolis, Md. He was 70.”  — The New York Times, December 17, 2024.   See the rest of the story here.

Six years ago a gunman shattered the glass front doors at The Capital newspaper offices in Annapolis and opened fire with a shotgun, killing five people and injuring two.

Soon an anguished Capital staffer tweeted, “Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow.”

Inspired by that tweet, the Chauncey Bailey Project published a message for the shooter, Jarrod W. Ramos, who reportedly had a grudge against the newspaper for writing about a criminal harassment charge against him.

“We have news for you, Mr. Ramos,” we published. “You can’t kill a story by killing a journalist.”

The next day The Capital published “5 Shot Dead at The Capital” with 10 bylines, followed by a steady stream of stories and more than 370 outside journalists volunteering to help.

In 2021, Ramos was sentenced to six consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole, one for each of the five people he killed and one for attempted murder.

Our condolences to Furgurson’s family.