Five people were killed on Thursday when a man with a shotgun opened fire in the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland’s capital, in a "targeted attack," police said. The suspect had sued the paper six years ago and lost.

"This person was prepared to shoot people. His intent was to cause harm," Bill Krampf, deputy police chief of Anne Arundel County, said at a news conference Thursday evening. Two people suffered superficial wounds, possibly from broken glass, he said.

Three senior law enforcement officials briefed on the matter told NBC News that the suspect has been identified as Jarrod Ramos, 38, of Maryland.

Ramos sued the Capital Gazette for defamation in 2012 after a columnist wrote about his guilty plea to criminal harassment in 2011. His case was dismissed, and an appeals court affirmed the decision.

On Thursday around 2:40 p.m., police were notified about an active shooter, authorities said. The gunman also had smoke grenades that he used when he entered the building, Krampf said. Earlier, Krampf had identified the grenades as a "possible explosive device."

The five people killed were identified by police and the Sun newspaper Thursday night as Wendi Winters; Rebecca Smith; Robert Hiaasen; Gerald Fischman; and John McNamara.

Hiaasen, 59, was an editor at the Capital Gazette. He was remembered in an obituary by the Baltimore Sun for mentoring young reporters, and as "a philosopher and a poet." "He wanted to teach young journalists to be better," former Capital Gazette reporter Tina Reed said in the Sun.

Hiaasen's widow, Maria, said in an emailed statement that "Rob — at 6 feet, five inches — was a giant in stature but also in character. He did a little birthday dance for me this morning before work (Today is my birthday), and he loved being a dad, an editor who helped shape young talent, and a creative writer and humorist."

"He loved to laugh. He loved the ocean. He loved words," she said.

Smith, 34, a sales assistant, was a recent hire remembered for her love of her family; Winters, 65, was a prolific writer who had a past career in fashion and public relations; Fischman, 61, was a writer remembered for "scathing, insightful and always exacting editorials about the community"; and McNamara, known as "Mac," was a writer who pursued his dream of sports reporting and was recalled as "just a jack of all trades and a fantastic person," according to obituaries published by the Sun.