ANNAPOLIS, MD — When a gunman stormed the offices of the Capital-Gazette in June 2018 — killing five newspaper employees — the Annapolis community was in a stunned state of shock. But stalwart newspaper staffers pressed ahead, even as they grieved. “We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow,” one of them, Chase Cook, said in a tweet that has since become famous.

As news outlets worldwide peppered reporter Cook and his colleagues about what came next after the shooting, and what witnesses saw, he and other journalists on the small daily’s staff covered the worst act of violence ever in an American newsroom. For their perseverance in the midst of the slayings, the newspaper received a special citation April 15 when Pulitzer Prizes were announced.

The board for journalism’s highest honor said:

“A special citation to honor the journalists, staff and editorial board of the Capital Gazette, Annapolis, Maryland, for their courageous response to the largest killing of journalists in U.S. history in their newsroom on June 28, 2018, and for demonstrating unflagging commitment to covering the news and serving their community at a time of unspeakable grief. The citation comes with a $100,000 bequest by the Pulitzer Board to be used to further the newspaper’s journalistic mission.”

Capital Editor Rick Hutzell called the citation a great honor.

“It’s a recognition of what happened after June 28,” Hutzell said Monday. “The work we’ve done in the last eight-nine months speaks volumes about the community of journalism and it speaks worlds about the people in this room.”

Jarrod Ramos, of Laurel, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of first-degree murder and 18 other charges he faces in connection with the shooting rampage that killed four journalists and an advertising employee at the Annapolis newspaper. Those charges include the attempted first-degree murder of photographer Paul Gillespie, six counts of first-degree assault and 11 counts of use of a firearm in commission of a crime of violence.

Police say Ramos was found hiding under a desk after the deadly shooting and taken into custody. Officials say he used a shotgun in the rampage. Prosecutors in the case said previously that they intend to seek a sentence of life without parole.

For putting out a newspaper in the wake of the workplace shooting, and for the daily work of covering the news of the Annapolis region, the Capital Gazette newspaper was included in December 2018 by Time magazine as part of the “Guardians and the War On Truth” — a group of journalists whose pursuit of the truth landed them in jail or cost them their lives — as the 2018 Person of the Year.

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