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A spirit that is not afraid

Capital Gazette editor once covered Auburn sports

Jimmy DeButts, community news editor for The Capital Gazette, covered Auburn University athletics for the Birmingham Post-Herald From September 2000 to September 2005, according to his LinkedIn profile.

<p>Police secure the scene of a shooting in Annapolis, Md., Thursday, June  28, 2018. A single shooter killed several people Thursday and wounded  others at a newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, and police said a suspect  was in custody.</p>

Police secure the scene of a shooting in Annapolis, Md., Thursday, June 28, 2018. A single shooter killed several people Thursday and wounded others at a newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, and police said a suspect was in custody.

An editor for The Capital Gazette who once covered Auburn for a Birmingham newspaper took to Twitter Thursday to mourn the loss of his co-workers killed a newsroom shooting.

Jimmy DeButts, community news editor for The Capital Gazette, covered Auburn University athletics for the Birmingham Post-Herald From September 2000 to September 2005, according to his LinkedIn profile.

DeButts described his feelings as “numb” after the slaying that left five of his co-workers dead, Anne Arundel County Police report. 

After the names of the victims were released, DeButts tweeted the names and obituaries for the five victims.

Early Friday morning, DeButts continued his long thread of tweets. He said he feels “helpless” and is proud of The Capital Gazette’s strength.

Thursday afternoon, gunshots rang out at 888 Bestgate Road, Annapolis, Maryland, the home of The Capital Gazette.

Jarrod Ramos was taken into custody after he was discovered hiding under a desk at The Capital Gazette office after killing five and injuring two others, the New York Times reports.

Ramos was charged with five counts of first-degree murder. He will face a bail hearing at 10:30 a.m. in District Court For Anne Arundel County Court Friday morning, according to Maryland Court records.

The shooting did not stop The Capital Gazette from publishing. The presses still ran early this morning in Annapolis, Maryland, following the deadly attack at The Capital Gazette.

The Capital Gazette took to Twitter late Thursday night to let the world know they would be publishing a Friday paper, just like they do every other Friday.

This paper was different than all their previous papers -- this paper meant more because the reporters wrote about their co-workers, their friends and the events that happened to them just hours before.

Throughout the night as reports of the deceased surfaced, the staff at The Capital Gazette wrote obituaries as they continued to report on the shooting they witnessed.

Read the newspaper's coverage of its own tragedy here.

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