Almost three years to the day after a deadly shooting at its newsroom, Capital Gazette editor Rick Hutzell is leaving the paper. The editor took a buyout offer from the paper’s parent company, Alden Global Capital, which recently acquired the Gazette and other papers. He said in a goodbye column Saturday that he hoped the buyout would give him a chance at a fresh start, something he felt the timing suited. “When did opportunity ever come a-knocking on schedule?” he wrote. Hutzell, who has been with the Capital since 1987, wrote that he has not made a decision on future plans other than spending more time with his family. But he believes the paper he presided over and led to a Pulitizer Prize will be fine. “It is and always has been the sum total of the people who work here and those beyond who contribute to its pages.”

On June 28, 2018, gunman Jarrod Ramos opened fire at the Capital Gazette newsroom, killing five staffers and injuring two. Ramos pleaded guilty but not criminally responsible for the shooting in 2019, with a trial to determine his legal responsibility set to begin next week.