Carl Hiaasen's Brother Among 5 Killed in Newsroom Shooting

The five people killed in a horrific mass shooting in a Maryland newsroom Thursday have been identified, including Rob Hiaasen, brother of Florida novelist and columnist Carl Hiaasen. Rob "was the most remarkable person. So gifted and talented and dedicated to journalism," Carl Hiaasen tells the AP. The 59-year-old was a columnist and editor at the Capital Gazette, reports the Sun Sentinel. The other victims at the Annapolis paper were editorial page editor Gerald Fischman, 61, sales assistant Rebecca Smith, 34, staff writer John McNamara, 56, and special publications editor Wendi Winters, 65. At least two other staffers were injured when a gunman attacked the Capital Gazette armed with a shotgun and smoke grenades.

The alleged shooter, who was taken into custody soon after the attack, has been identified as 38-year-old Jarrod Ramos, a resident of Laurel, Md., who had a longstanding grudge against the newspaper, reports the Baltimore Sun. Court records show that Ramos filed a defamation suit against the Capital Gazette in 2012 over an article that said he had pleaded guilty to criminal harassment after harassing a woman on Facebook, CNBC reports. A court ruled in the newspaper's favor and the ruling was upheld on appeal. "This was a targeted attack on the Capital Gazette," says Anne Arundel County Deputy Police Chief William Krampf. "This person was prepared today to come in. He was prepared to shoot people." (More mass shootings stories.)