Capital Gazette suspect sent threatening letters before shooting

July 3 (UPI) -- Maryland investigators say the gunman who opened fire at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis last week sent three threatening letters before the deadly attack.

Officials said letters were sent to the paper's former attorney, Maryland's Court of Special Appeals and a Baltimore City judge.

One was signed by accused shooter Jarrod Ramos said he was on his way to the newspaper to kill "every person present." The letter was dated June 28, the day of the attack.

The letter was written to look like a court filing and sought a "Motion for Reconsideration" by Maryland's top court, which in 2016 refused to hear a defamation case Ramos had filed against the Gazette.

"You were too cowardly to confront those lies, and this is your receipt," the letter stated. "I told you so."

"Welcome, Mr. Moylan, to your unexpected legacy: YOU should have died," an attachment to the letter said, addressing retired Judge Charles Moylan Jr. It was signed, "Friends forever, Jarrod W. Ramos."

Moylan wrote a scathing opinion against Ramos in the defamation case.

The entire contents of all the letters were not detailed by police. Investigators are still examining them, a spokesperson said.

"I further certify I then did proceed to the office of respondent Capital-Gazette Communications ... with the objective of killing every person present," one passage read, The Baltimore Sun reported.

Five people died in the attack and several were injured.

Ramos' defamation suit stemmed from a 2011 article in the Gazette that detailed a harassment charge a woman had filed against him. The two were former classmates, officials said.

Ramos was arrested after the attack and is being held in an Anne Arundel County jail.