Tom Marquardt has a warning for all journalists: “Number one, is that you have to be alert to your surroundings,” he told the Press Club of Southwest Florida in a presentation at its March 11 meeting, held at the Naples Hilton.
“My life has changed. I have weapons in my house now and my wife knows how to operate them. I don’t go into a room now without looking around me all the time.”
Marquardt has reasons for caution. He served as editor and publisher of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, MD, retiring to Naples in 2012 after a 35-year career.
That’s where he was on June 28, 2018, when 38-year old Ramon Escara blasted his way into the newsroom of Marquardt’s former newspaper and killed five members of the staff. It was the worst mass murder of journalists in American history.
Escara had been covered in a 2011 article for stalking and sexually harassing a high school classmate. Enraged by the coverage, Escara attacked the newspaper on social media and sued it in court. The judge dismissed the rambling, unfocused complaint, leading Escara to spend the next three years plotting revenge of a different sort.
By 2018 he was ready to strike the newspaper’s offices. He blocked an exit, shot his way through the front door, killed five staffers, then called police and surrendered after hiding under a desk.
In his presentation to the Press Club, Marquardt provided a detailed account of the events leading up to the shooting, including police body camera video of the arrest. Although he was long gone from the newsroom, in the years that followed the attack he reviewed police and court files, eyewitness accounts and a psychiatrist’s interview with the killer. The result is a just-published book, Pressed to Kill: Inside Newspaper’s Worst Mass Murder.
In responding to a question from Press Club President Tom Doerr, Marquardt identified three lessons that journalists should take away from the incident.
Elaborating on the need to be aware of surroundings, he said: “What I’m suggesting is that every reporter, number one, be aware of who’s in the newsroom, or who’s in the public where they’re at. It’s really important to think about, whatever story you’re writing. If you do your feature story on somebody, chances are you’re not going to be getting any kind of physical attack. But if you’re reporting crime, if you’re reporting wrongdoing, any kind of political corruption, be aware, be aware.”
As another example of this kind of danger, Marquardt cited the 2015 shooting of reporter Alison Parker and photographer Adam Ward in Moneta, VA. Both were killed by a disgruntled former employee of their television station, who also shot the person they were interviewing. (She survived.)
A second lesson from the Capital Gazette incident, Marquardt said, was that “if you do feel threatened there are things you can do. You can walk away from the incident. …There’s a way of walking away from something if you feel in danger.”
However, if walking away is not an option, “you seek some sort of remedy for whatever’s happening.”
This is especially true for long-term issues like the one faced by the Capital Gazette, where Escara spent years complaining, harassing and suing the newspaper, his rants and threats becoming progressively more unhinged.
“You can go back to your boss and say, ‘Hey, this is happening here’ and ‘I think it’s happening more often,’” Marquardt said. “You see [reporters] out there being hassled just for doing their jobs, by people who are upset with stories that air. Now, most of these people haven’t done anything but it’s not going to take much to trigger a response similar to this [one in Annapolis].”
He also noted that in today’s environment, “There seems to be a license to go out and attack the media.”
Indeed, Southwest Florida had its own experience with a physical attack on a journalist on Nov. 28, 2019, when NBC2 reporter Delia D’Ambra was attacked—without warning or provocation — in North Fort Myers while doing a stand-up report on a street corner. The attacker was swiftly arrested.
Both D’Ambra and WINK security specialist Rich Kolko addressed the Press Club at that time to give the same warning that Marquardt conveyed: always be aware of your surroundings.
Also at that time the Press Club considered a resolution opposing violence against journalists.
A draft of that resolution stated:
“The Press Club of Southwest Florida condemns in the strongest possible terms any and all violence against journalists in the performance of their duties;
“Condemns hateful and violent rhetoric against journalists and media by all public figures and elected officials;
“Calls on law enforcement officers to vigorously enforce the law and fully prosecute to the greatest extent possible any and all perpetrators of violence against journalists;
“Calls on news organizations to provide the maximum possible protection for their employees and journalists in the performance of their duties… .”
Although not formally passed by the Club, as Marquardt’s story makes clear, those principles remain as relevant today as they were back then.
Editor’s Note: Tom Marquardt will be available to sell and autograph copies of his book at the upcoming April 9, 2025, Press Club luncheon at Season’s 52.
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