Concert to honor five Capital Gazette employees killed in newsroom attack

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The city of Annapolis is holding a benefit concert featuring Maryland-bred rockers Good Charlotte to honor the five Capital Gazette employees killed in an attack in their newsroom last month. Good Charlotte will headline Saturday’s concert titled “Annapolis Rising: A Benefit for the Capital Gazette and Free Press & First Responders.” 

Other performers include Dublin 5, Higher Hands and Clones of Funk. The concert will feature speakers including staff from the Capital Gazette as well as Washington Post Editor Martin Baron.

The benefit concert will take place from a stage on College Avenue with the Maryland State House in the background. It’s being held one month after the June 28 fatal shooting. 

Late last month, more than 1,000 people streamed through Maryland’s capital to honor the victims: assistant managing editor Rob Hiaasen, editorial page editor Gerald Fischman, special projects editor Wendi Winters, reporter John McNamara and sales assistant Rebecca Smith. Friends, former co-workers and people who felt connected to them took part in the strikingly silent candlelit march.

“The people who made our newspaper are people we felt we knew, even if we had never met them before,” Benjamin Wilson said. 

The suspect, Jarrod Ramos, remains jailed on five counts of first-degree murder.