Capital Gazette Memorial Unveiled, Attendees Cheer Free Press

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Officials on Monday unveiled a memorial to the victims of the Capital Gazette shooting. The ceremony took place on the third anniversary of the attack, which claimed the lives of five newspaper employees on June 28, 2018.

The monument is named the "Guardians of the First Amendment Memorial." It is located in downtown Annapolis at the corner of Compromise Street and Newman Street. The $500,000 shrine was sponsored by the Caucus of African American Leaders of Anne Arundel County and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee of Anne Arundel County.

The new structure at Newman Park features five cement pillars, one for each life lost, arranged in a semicircle. The columns face a rounded brick wall, which showcases the words of the First Amendment and a plaque displaying the cover of the newspaper the day after the assault. The front page led with the headline "5 shot dead at The Capital" along with the photos of each victim:

• Editorial Editor Gerald Fischman, 61
• News Editor and Columnist Robert Hiaasen, 59
• Sportswriter and Editor John McNamara, 56
• Sales Associate Rebecca Smith, 34
• Community News Reporter Wendi Winters, 65

A few hundred dignitaries, leaders and residents attended the dedication. Leaders cheered the importance of journalists and reflected on those who lost their lives while pursuing the truth.

"Without a free press, we can't have a functioning democracy," Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley said in a speech. "A free press holds politicians, like me and those of you out there, accountable."

County Executive Steuart Pittman doubled down on the importance of local news. Pittman last Tuesday criticized the new owners of Capital Gazette.

Alden Global Capital, a New York City-based hedge fund, bought Tribune Publishing for $633 million last month. That gave Alden majority ownership of every Tribune newspaper, including these Maryland publications:

• The Baltimore Sun
• Bowie Blade-News
• Capital Gazette
• Carroll County Times
• The Aegis

Alden owns about 200 papers and has a reputation for slashing newsroom budgets and laying off employees.

In an open letter to the conglomeration, Pittman invited its executives to attend the event. Pittman told Patch that he never got a response from the company.

"We need a damn newspaper," he said. "Anger can feed activism, good activism, and that can be a path to progress."

Two Capital Gazette employees recently accepted voluntary buyouts. Journalist Chase Cook tweeted on June 14 that he took the offer. Former Editor Rick Hutzell followed on June 19, announcing his departure from the publication where he spent 33 years.

Hutzell explained that the murder of his colleagues forever changed him.

"They were my friends, and that to me is more precious than any words or memorial," the former editor said, urging attendees to subscribe to their local news outlets and keep them afloat. "It is painful. It is hard, but it's a burden I carry along."

Relatives of the victims also attended the gathering. Family speakers included:

• Summerleigh Winters, daughter of Wendi Winters
• Andrea Chamblee, widow of John McNamara
• Maria Hiaasen, widow of Robert Hiaasen

Maria Hiaasen admired the "exquisite memorial." She recognized that it "pays tribute not to the heinous act of June 28, but to" the reporters who embodied the spirit of the free press.

She also applauded the location of the monument. Maria Hiaasen appreciated its position on Compromise Street, which was the name of a novel that her husband tried to publish.

Robert Hiaasen posthumously published a different book, called "Float Plan." One chapter details a scene at the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial, which sits one block away from the Capital Gazette monument.

That statue depicts Alex Haley telling the story of his relative, Kunta Kinte, who arrived in Annapolis in 1767 before heading into slavery. Alex Haley's nephew, Chris Haley, paid his respects at the Capital Gazette commemoration.

Chris Haley was most touched by the death of Winters, who interviewed him for several stories. He remembers Winters as an "inquisitive" person who "was just always friendly."

That drive makes Chris Haley wonder why some Americans undermine the work of journalists.

"The media helps people just as much as any entity out there," Chris Haley said in an exclusive interview with Patch. "It's terrible to call a newspaper 'an enemy of the people.'"

Keynote speaker David Simon highlighted that sentiment in his address entitled "The Death of Truth." Simon was a Baltimore Sun reporter and the creator of HBO's hit show "The Wire."

Without mentioning him by name, Simon pointed to former President Donald Trump and his campaign against many news outlets. He also noted the danger of the term "fake news."

Simon mentioned that this aggression does not bode well for an industry already "brutalized by out of town" parent companies and shareholders.

"An honest paper has no real friends," Simon said, outlining the importance of neutrality and watchdog journalism.

His wife, author Laura Lippman, thinks communities must protect this core value of the truth.

"Newspapers can be killed," said Lippman, another graduate of The Baltimore Sun. "People can be killed," but the legacies of these reporters are now set in stone.

Laurel man Jarrod Ramos, 41, pleaded guilty to all 23 charges in the shooting. His trial is slated to start this week.

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CAPITAL GAZETTE COVERAGE:

• Opinion: Capital Gazette Shooting Memorial Embodies 1st Amendment
• New Capital Gazette Owner Bashed, Invited To Memorial Unveiling
• Tribune Publishing Agrees To Purchase By Alden
• Capital Gazette Shooting Survivors Will Be On Podcast Miniseries
• Victim Of Capital Gazette Shooting Earns Honor For Her Heroism
• Publisher Locks Capital Gazette Staff Out Of Office Before Rally
• Tribune Closing Capital Gazette Office
• Slain Capital Gazette 'Hero' Deserves Medal Of Freedom: MD Reps
• Wife's Gut-Wrenching Essay On Husband's Death In Capital Shooting
• Mikulski Seeks Medal Of Freedom For Slain Capital Gazette Writer
• Annapolis Shooting: Here Are The 5 Capital Gazette Victims

TRIAL COVERAGE:

• Capital Gazette Shooter First Planned To Blow Up Paper, Court
• Coronavirus Postpones Capital Gazette Shooting Trial
• Capital Gazette Shooter Pleads Guilty To All Counts In 5 Deaths
• Capital Gazette Shooting Suspect Jarrod Ramos Found Legally Sane
• Use Of Capital Gazette Shooting Video Debated In Court
• Mental Evaluation Ordered For Accused Capital Gazette Gunman
• Attorneys For Accused Newspaper Shooter Want Trial Split In Half
• Ramos Must Turn Over Jail Treatment Records: Newspaper Shooting
• Mental Health Evaluation For Jarrod Ramos Has Been Sealed
• Capital Gazette Shooting Video To Be Shown In Murder Trial

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