Two Roanoke Virginia news reporters were shot dead by a gunman who then turned his weapon on himself, after being confronted by police following a highway chase.
Reporter Alison Parker, 24 and photographer Adam Ward, 27, employees of Roanoke Virginia TV station, WDBJ, were shot to death while doing a live report from a shopping district near Moneta, Virginia. The person they were interviewing, Vicki Gardner, executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, was shot in the back and is in surgery, according to CNN.
Two videos posted on a Twitter account under the name, Bryce Williams, show someone walking up to the WDBJ news crew and pointing a gun at them.
Another tweet says, “I filmed the shooting.” The Facebook and Twitter account were suspended shortly after the tweets.
One of the videos shows the gunman approaching WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and photographer Adam Ward as Parker conducted a routine interview about a local story outside Moneta, Virginia.
Ward’s back is to the gunman. Parker is in profile, and the interviewee is facing the gunman. The shooter appears to take his time aiming the gun, presenting it and then withdrawing it, before composing the angle of his video. He opens fire on Parker first. Both Parker and the interviewee scream.
On air, the audience saw the camera fall to the ground and caught the briefest glimpse of a man who appeared to point a gun toward the downed cameraman.
The station cut away to a shocked anchor, Kimberly McBroom, back in the studio.
Here’s the scene as it unfolded live, during the news broadcast.
https://youtu.be/pAH6SACn9lE
This is video the gunman took. I’m not going to embed it, because the splash screen is disturbing. WARNING FOR GRAPHIC DISTURBING FOOTAGE.
The shooter, Vester Flanagan, a former employee of the station, is still alive. UPDATE: It’s been reported that Flanagan has died of his wounds. WDBJ General Manager Jeff Marks said of the shooter, “Two years ago, we had to separate him from the company. We did understand that he was still living in the area.” Flanagan worked at WDBJ as a reporter for about a year using the on-air name, Bryce Williams.
There seems to be no motive as to why Parker and Ward in particular were targeted by the shooter. General Manager of WDBJ, Jeff Marks said, “I don’t think (reporter) Alison (Parker) and that individual even overlapped here.” He added that the two were “the kindest and nicest people who worked here. … I can’t figure out any connection.”
ABC News received a fax containing a 23-page manifesto from someone named Bryce Williams, the network reported. The document has been handed over to investigators.
TheWrap reported that Flanagan faxed a 23-page manifesto to ABC News on Wednesday morning in which he hinted at his plans and their motivation: “What sent me over the top was the church shooting. And my hollow point bullets have the victims’ initials on them.”
