UMD journalism lecturer Rob Hiaasen killed in Capital Gazette shooting
UMD journalism lecturer Rob Hiaasen killed in Capital Gazette shooting
By Leah Brennan
@allhaeleah
Published June 28 at 9:36 PM
Rob Hiaasen, an assistant editor and columnist for the Capital and a journalism lecturer at the University of Maryland, died Thursday after a shooting at the Capital Gazette. He was 59.
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Hiaasen was one of five fatalities after a shooter opened fire in the publication's newsroom Thursday afternoon, according to police. Reporter Wendi Winters, sales assistant Rebecca Smith, editorial page editor Gerald Fischman and staff writer John McNamara were also killed, and several others were injured. Fischman and McNamara were University of Maryland and Diamondback alumni.
Hiaasen taught one class of JOUR320: News Writing and Reporting II: Multiplatform at this university in the spring. He was slated to teach it again in the fall. ... After reporting with The Baltimore Sun for 15 years, Hiaasen was hired at the Capital in 2010. A University of Florida graduate, he also worked at The Palm Beach Post and various radio stations in the South, according to his Capital Gazette biography.
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Anthony Messenger, a rising senior at Salisbury University and a Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia Press Association intern at the Capital, first tweeted at 2:43 p.m.
"Active shooter 888 Bestgate please help us," he wrote.
This article has been updated.