The gunman who killed five people at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, blasted his way into the newsroom with a 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun and barricaded a back door so employees couldn’t escape, officials said Friday.

“The fellow was there to kill as many people as he could kill,” Anne Arundel County Police Chief Timothy Altomare told reporters, adding that he had bought the gun legally about a year ago.

Meanwhile, Jarrod Ramos, 38, was denied bail Friday during an appearance via video link from a detention facility and held on five counts of first-degree murder.

Ramos, who has been uncooperative with his interrogators, appeared to watch attentively but never spoke during the hearing before Judge Thomas Pryal.

“There is a certain likelihood you are a danger,” Pryal told Ramos, who stared impassively at the camera, according to the Baltimore Sun.

In a separate briefing, state’s attorney Wes Adams cited “evidence that suggested a coordinated attack: the barricading of a back door and the use of a tactical approach in hunting down and shooting the innocent victims.”

The prosecutor said there were two entrances to the office and that Ramos entered through the front door and “worked his way through the office.”

One victim who tried to escape through the back door was shot, he added. Police said surveillance video recorded the attack.

Adams also said Ramos — who was found cowering under a desk — had an escape plan that he never implemented, though he did not give details about what it was.

Investigators found the suspect’s car near the scene of the massacre and conducted a warrant search of his home, where they uncovered evidence that he had planned the attack, Altomare said.

He did not provide details about what evidence was found but said investigators did not uncover a written manifesto.

The police chief said the suspect had a history with county police and had made threats online against the Capital Gazette in 2013.

Retired publisher Tom Marquardt said he called authorities that year, telling his wife at the time: “This guy could really hurt us.”

A detective spoke with the Gazette’s legal counsel and several staffers at the time, Altomare said, but the paper didn’t want to pursue criminal charges.

“There was a fear that doing so would exasperate an already flammable situation,” he said.

Investigators also are reviewing Ramos’ social media postings.

“We had the instances in 2013, and then it went dark, and my understanding is that shortly before the incident, there were some posts,” Altomare said.

The suspect was identified quickly with help of facial recognition technology from the Maryland Image Repository System, Altomare said.

He added that it is “absolutely untrue” that Ramos had mutilated his fingertips.

Earlier reports said he had damaged the tips of his fingers in an apparent attempt to thwart efforts by authorities to identify him by his fingerprints.

Altomare also said that newspaper employees Rachel Pacella and Janet Cooley had been treated at a hospital and released after being injured in the attack.

With Post wires