One of the five employees of a Maryland newspaper killed during a mass shooting in June is set to be honored for her contributions to the local arts community.
The Capital Gazette reports its former employee Wendi Winters will be among five others receiving an Annie Award this week from the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County.
Winters is being recognized posthumously for her work at the newspaper. She was a freelance writer and features editor who regularly profiled local artists and highlighted arts events.
Winters and four others were fatally shot in the newsroom in Annapolis on June 28. The man charged in the shooting had a history of harassing the newspaper's journalists.
The Capital newspaper reported that Winters confronted the man who shot his way into the newsroom. She had taken active shooter training at her church weeks before the attack. Janel Cooley, a survivor of the shooting, told the newspaper that Winters charged forward with a trash can and recycling bin.
Phoenix Geimer, Winters' son, told hundreds at a memorial service how his mother slowed the gunman by charging him, giving police time to arrive and "doubtlessly saving lives."
Steve Gunn, a former editor of The Capital newspaper, recalled the "gangly, kind of quirky person" who had come to tell him how to run the paper when he first arrived. He said she emphasized the importance of him getting out into the community and meeting people, prompting applause from the audience gathered to remember her.
While she didn't have formal training in journalism training, he described her as "possibly the best hire ever made by a newspaper."
