Washington, Oct 29 (IANS): A man accused of killing five employees of a newspaper in the Us state of Maryland last year has pleaded guilty.

Ramos stormed the Capital Gazette newsroom with a shotgun on June 28, 2018, killing four journalists and a sales assistant in an attack that authorities said was motivated by a long-standing grudge, reports Xinhua news agency.

At a court in the state capital of Annapolis, Jarrod Ramos, 39, on Monday admitted to a judge that he had committed the killings.

Judge Laura Ripken, who accepted Ramos' plea said that she determined that the accused "freely, knowingly and voluntarily" waived his right to a jury trial to determine his guilt or innocence.

A jury is expected to hear a testimony in the coming weeks about whether Ramos was not responsible by reason of insanity.

Ramos had originally pleaded not guilty to the crime.

The attack was deemed as one of the deadliest on journalists in US history.