Books: Old, New and Obscure: “Pressed to Kill: Inside Newspapers’ Worst Mass Murder,” by Tom Marquardt

Note: The author Tom Marquardt refuses to speak or write the shooter’s name, instead he uses a pseudonym. For this review, he will be referred to as “the shooter.” He killed five people, but his shots injured many more, including those who witnessed the shooting or aftermath and, most importantly, the families who lost loved ones.

We all have visceral memories; they may be personal or shared by many. Those of a certain age remember where they were and what they were doing when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Those of us from Annapolis, Maryland will long remember June 28, 2018, when five individuals were killed and others injured merely because they were hard at work in the offices of The Capital newspaper. They had done nothing wrong. They were the victims of a man who had held a grudge for seven years.

Tom Marquardt, former writer and editor of The Capital, has written “Pressed to Kill: Inside Newspapers’ Worst Mass Murder.” With thoroughness and clarity, Marquardt details the history of the shooter’s grudge with the newspaper, starting with a brief article about the shooter’s 2011 conviction for sexually harassing a former classmate. By 2018 when the mass murder occurred, neither the author of the article nor Marquardt worked at The Capital or even lived in Annapolis. But the vendetta of the shooter had generalized to the newspaper itself as well as the judicial system he felt had ruled unjustly.

In 2015, the shooter’s social media attacks had lapsed. Silence is not always golden and sometimes leads to violence. During the 2021 trial, the jury convicted the shooter after two hours of deliberation. Following testimony from the families and survivors, the court sentenced him to six consecutive life sentences for the five murdered, the attempted murder of another victim plus 345 years for remaining charges.

What could propel someone to commit this heinous act? We learn how well-reasoned decisions, such as The Capital not responding to the early harassment by the shooter, can be sabotaged by the turmoil and plotting of those with unstable minds. We revisit the difference between a crime committed by a person with a disturbed mind like that of the shooter, distinguished from one committed by a person deemed not criminally responsible by reason of insanity.

Information from the 20 hours of interviews with a prison psychiatrist reveals the shooter’s disappointments and beliefs about his childhood and adult years. The shooter had sought counseling in the past; and his family, particularly his sister, had tried to warn people of his state of mind. The shooter had meticulously researched how he would finally win his vendetta. He surveilled the offices of The Capital, obtained the weapon and other materials used in his assault. He waited until his beloved cat had died and arranged his affairs with the belief that the rest of his life would willingly be in prison.

Marquardt addresses the readers’ questions about whether the mass murder could have been prevented. Should The Capital have sought legal means against the shooter’s continued harassment? In the later investigation, there was no evidence that the police had followed up on the shooter when the newspaper reported the ongoing harassment, despite their promise to do so. Would either have helped? The author also discusses other mass killings and possible preventive measures such as profiling and red flag laws.

To this reader, the most important part of “Pressed to Kill …” is the personal stories about Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith and Wendi Winters. Survivors continue to honor them: publishing The Capital without interruption, holding years of memorial blood drives, lobbying for gun control laws, posthumous publishing of books, and erecting the Guardians of the First Amendment Memorial in Annapolis. This is a cautionary tale to make the public aware of the seeds of mass killings, but the everyday courage of the survivors is what shines most clearly.

– Mary Barbera