Before he allegedly killed five people in a newsroom gun massacre last week, a former high school classmate says he tormented her and told her to kill herself in social media posts.
A woman identified only as “Lori” described her terrifying experience with suspected gunman Jarrod Ramos in an appearance on the “Today” show Monday.
Ramos, 38, is accused of opening fire in the office of the Capital Gazette on Thursday, killing five people in the newsroom and injuring several more. Ramos is suspected of having a vendetta against the newspaper because it reported on harassment allegations against him.
Lori said on the talk show that she connected with Ramos, a former high school classmate, via email several years ago and continued to correspond with him even though she didn’t remember him from Arundel High School.
But at some point Ramos became obsessed with her, Lori said.
“All of the sudden out of nowhere one day he sent me this really angry email … he said something along the lines of he was worried about me, that I hadn’t responded to him in three or four days, what was wrong with me, why was I doing this to him?” Lori said.
She said he then began harassing her via social media, calling her names and telling her to kill herself. The two never met in person.
“I would be afraid that he could show up anywhere at any time and kill me,” Lori said, adding that the harassment led her to move away from Maryland.
Ramos is being held without bail on five counts of murder.