Pressed to Kill: Inside Newspapers' Worst Mass Murder

For all Tom Marquardt knew, Capital Gazette just had an unhappy reader. What he didn't know was that the unhappy reader was about to become a mass murderer.

Marquardt, the former editor of Capital Gazette newspapers in Annapolis, MD, was a target of a 38-year-old loner who sought to avenge a 2011 article that reported the reader's conviction of sexually harassing a former high school classmate. For years the man sued the editor, the reporter and the newspaper for defamation, then took to Twitter (now X) to lash out against the editor and reporter. Representing himself in court, his lawsuit rambled and failed to persuade a judge who easily dismissed it. He spent the next three years silently plotting his attack.

On June 28, 2018, he blasted his way through the locked doors of Capital Gazette offices and killed five employees. He called 911 to confess, then hid under a desk while waiting to surrender to approaching police.

Marquardt spent two years reviewing police and court files, eyewitness accounts, the killer's interview with a state psychiatrist and video footage to chronicle in stunning detail what lead up to the crime and how the killer escaped detection.

"Pressed to Kill: Inside Newspapers' Worst Mass Murder" is a chilling account of the worst mass murder at an American newspaper, but more so it is about the lives of those who died, their heroism on that day, and the remarkable response from a community who rushed to its side.

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Pressed to Kill: Inside Newspapers' Worst Mass Murder

For all Tom Marquardt knew, Capital Gazette just had an unhappy reader. What he didn't know was that the unhappy reader was about to become a mass murderer.

Marquardt, the former editor of Capital Gazette newspapers in Annapolis, MD, was a target of a 38-year-old loner who sought to avenge a 2011 article that reported the reader's conviction of sexually harassing a former high school classmate. For years the man sued the editor, the reporter and the newspaper for defamation, then took to Twitter (now X) to lash out against the editor and reporter. Representing himself in court, his lawsuit rambled and failed to persuade a judge who easily dismissed it. He spent the next three years silently plotting his attack.

On June 28, 2018, he blasted his way through the locked doors of Capital Gazette offices and killed five employees. He called 911 to confess, then hid under a desk while waiting to surrender to approaching police.

Marquardt spent two years reviewing police and court files, eyewitness accounts, the killer's interview with a state psychiatrist and video footage to chronicle in stunning detail what lead up to the crime and how the killer escaped detection.

"Pressed to Kill: Inside Newspapers' Worst Mass Murder" is a chilling account of the worst mass murder at an American newspaper, but more so it is about the lives of those who died, their heroism on that day, and the remarkable response from a community who rushed to its side.

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Pressed to Kill: Inside Newspapers' Worst Mass Murder

Pressed to Kill: Inside Newspapers' Worst Mass Murder

by Tom Marquardt
Pressed to Kill: Inside Newspapers' Worst Mass Murder

Pressed to Kill: Inside Newspapers' Worst Mass Murder

by Tom Marquardt

Paperback

$23.99 
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Overview

For all Tom Marquardt knew, Capital Gazette just had an unhappy reader. What he didn't know was that the unhappy reader was about to become a mass murderer.

Marquardt, the former editor of Capital Gazette newspapers in Annapolis, MD, was a target of a 38-year-old loner who sought to avenge a 2011 article that reported the reader's conviction of sexually harassing a former high school classmate. For years the man sued the editor, the reporter and the newspaper for defamation, then took to Twitter (now X) to lash out against the editor and reporter. Representing himself in court, his lawsuit rambled and failed to persuade a judge who easily dismissed it. He spent the next three years silently plotting his attack.

On June 28, 2018, he blasted his way through the locked doors of Capital Gazette offices and killed five employees. He called 911 to confess, then hid under a desk while waiting to surrender to approaching police.

Marquardt spent two years reviewing police and court files, eyewitness accounts, the killer's interview with a state psychiatrist and video footage to chronicle in stunning detail what lead up to the crime and how the killer escaped detection.

"Pressed to Kill: Inside Newspapers' Worst Mass Murder" is a chilling account of the worst mass murder at an American newspaper, but more so it is about the lives of those who died, their heroism on that day, and the remarkable response from a community who rushed to its side.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781627205764
Publisher: Apprentice House
Publication date: 03/18/2025
Pages: 304
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.64(d)

About the Author

Tom Marquardt spent more than 40 years in journalism in Michigan and Maryland. For his final 35 years he worked at Capital Gazette newspapers in Annapolis as an editor and finally as editor and publisher. He retired in 2012 and moved to Naples, Florida, with his wife Sue. A journalism graduate of Central Michigan University, he received several awards for his writing and was admitted to his alma mater's Journalism Hall of Fame in 2013. This is the first book he has authored.
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