Annapolis killer was allowed to buy a gun -- even after woman he stalked warned he'd be 'next mass shooter'

Jarrod Ramos, the man accused by police of fatally shooting five people and wounding seven others at the Annapolis Capital Gazette newspaper, was legally allowed to buy a shotgun even though the woman he once stalked warned police years ago that he would be "your next mass shooter."

As reported by WBAL-TV investigative reporter Jayne Miller, Ramos in 2011 pleaded guilty to harassing an unnamed woman who has had to change her name and move multiple times after Ramos became "fixated" with her.

That woman subsequently reached out to Miller and explained that she warned police that he was an extremely dangerous person.

"He's a f*cking nut job," she told Miller of Ramos.

The woman also said that she told a former police officer at the time that Ramos "will be your next mass shooter."

Despite this, however, Ramos successfully passed a federal background check and was allowed to purchase a pump-action shotgun.

According to Miller, there were possibly two reasons that he was allowed to buy the weapon despite his troubled past. First, she says, long guns such as the one Ramos bought are easier to obtain than handguns in Maryland.

Second, she notes that Ramos' conviction for harassing the unidentified woman was struck by a judge, who subsequently "issued probation before the judgement." This means that his criminal record for stalking the woman was wiped out, and thus likely didn't show up on background check queries.