Woman Harassed by Capital Gazette Shooter Recalls Being 'Tormented and Traumatized'

A Maryland woman has opened up about the harassment she faced at the hands of Jarrod Ramos before he carried out the shooting at the Capital Gazette last week.

Ramos planned the grizzly attack on the newspaper on Thursday. He barricaded a door to prevent people from exiting and took aim at newspaper staffers with a shotgun. Five people were killed and two more were injured.

Ramos had attempted to sue the Gazette in 2011, claiming a story about the harassment lawsuit filed against him amounted to defamation. That legal pile-up has been identified as a possible motivation for the attack. Now, the victim in that suit, named only as Lori, has discussed Ramos' widely reported history of stalking and harassment in an interview with NBC News.

"I would be afraid that he could show up anywhere at any time and kill me," she recalled, in an interview on the Today Show. "I have been tormented and traumatized and terrorized for so long that I think it has changed the fiber of my being."

Lori's interaction with Ramos stemmed from a seemingly innocuous Facebook friend request. She told her story in the Gazette shortly after she had finally gotten a peace order and the harassment had ceased. The article was titled "Jerrod Wants to be Your Friend." Within about a year, Ramos had threatened her, guilted her, and even managed to get her laid off by sending personal information to her boss.

"He reached out to me via email to ask if I remembered him from high school and I replied to him nicely that I did not," she told NBC on Monday. She said that Ramos made himself appear vulnerable by saying that she was the only person who had acknowledged him or been nice to him in high school. However, he manipulated her by assuming a more aggressive persona at a moment's notice.

"He said 'eff you, go kill yourself, you're going to need a protective order' ... he's very cold. He's very calculated. He's very intelligent."

Ramos is currently in custody, facing five charges of first degree murder. His attack on the Gazette was reportedly telegraphed by numerous online threats to the paper as well, though police said that they were afraid investigating these posts would only provoke Ramos.

This was yet another devastating shooting for Americans who are still grappling with tragedies like the one in Parkland, Florida earlier this year. Like some of those students, some survivors from the Gazette are calling on lawmakers for a meaningful change to prevent future violence.