The live wednesday morning conducting an interview when their former coworker ambushed them. Both died. The woman they were interviewing was wounded. Police identified the shooter as 41yearold Vester Flanagan. He posted his own view of the shooting on social mia. Police say he shot himself as they closed in on his car about 200 miles away. He later died. Flanagan used the name Bryce Williams on the air. Live in henry county Bryce Williams. Wdbj7. They fired him in 2013 and police had to escort him from the building. Toward the end, there were issues with temper and ability to work with other. This is hard day for all of us here. 27yearold ward was engaged to the morning producer who was in the control room when her fiance was killed. 24yearold parker had just moved in with anchor chris hurst. We wanted to get married. We were determined to be a news couple. Parker family said in statement although her life was brief she was so happy with it. Parkers boyfriend chris hurst who you saw in that video is a graduate of Conestoga High School chester county. Earlier today he tweeted this message we didnt share this publicly but allison and i were very much in love we just moved in together. I am numb. Hurst was supposed to be anchoring the news tonight and instead hes mourning the loss of his colleague and his girl friend. I just cant believe that shes gone. I cant. Marvelous story teller with so much promise ahead of her who just happened to love me back. Hurst and parker have been dating for nine months and they planned to marry. Tonight president obama had this to say about the shooting in roanoke. I think its one more argument for why we need to look at how we can reduce gun violence in this country, but right now the fbi has been helpful with local authorities in trying to solve what is really a tragic death. The president also said his heart goes out to the families of the victims. The deadly shooting of the news crew shed light on a piece of technology some Police Departments and Law Enforcement have at their disposal. All right david spunt is in our Satellite Center right now david got an up close look today license plate reader and how it works. License plate receipts across the tristate area. Officers use them on the streets every single day. I spoke to an officer who says these license plates readers are a game changer when it comes to tracking down suspect. Moments after pulling the trigger stress that are flanagan a former reporter who went by the name Bryce Williams on air drove to the roanoke airport left his car then drove off in a previously rented car and left roanoke. Police caught up with him several hours later about 200 miles away from the shooting scene. State trooper spotted flanagans vehicle using one of these, a license plate reader. It bothers me. I dont understand how someone could even think to do that. We rode around with Camden CountyPolice Lieutenant james who uses the same technology that ended up locating Vester Flanagan on the highway. This happens in a matter of seconds. James showed us how the license plate readers work. As he drives these cameras on top of his car take instant re realtime photographs of license plates and flag them. If there are any issues with the registration, license plate or the driver. Im looking for children running out in the street. Im going to be a safe vehicle operator. I dont turn my head to look at a tag and turn my head to look at a tag. Images are sent instant toll Camden Countys Real Time Crime Center where detectives can compare data. About an hour after the attack, a man who claimed to be Vester Flanagan called and fax add 23 page letter to abc news. In the letter, flanagan wrote he was tack for being a gay black man he allegedly wrote im been a human powder keg for awhile just waitining to boom according to the letter flanagan also said the shootings were retaliation for the Church Massacre in june in charleston, South Carolina. Vester flanagan sued wdbj his former station in roanoke for Racial Discrimination that. Case was dismissed he sued the inform bc station he work for in tallahassee florida for 15,000. That case was settled. Reporting live in the sat center david spunt cbs3 Eyewitness News. David, thank you for that. Stay with Eyewitness News for continuing coverage of the tragedy in virginia. When were not on television you can find updates and tributes to the victims any time at cbsphilly. Com. James hold opens will spent the rest of his live in prison. A judge sentenced holmes to 12 live sentences without the possibility of parole. 3,003 hun eight years. Theyre for the 12 people he killed in shooting rampage in aurora colorado in july 2012. The judge added 3,318 years for 70 convictions of attempted murder and an explosives charge. Today the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unsealed hundreds of pornographic emails and documents related to the criminal case against Pennsylvania Attorney general Kathleen Kane the documents include an emergency application filed by kane in november. She asked the court to investigate into allegations she leak grand jury information. Kane alleged two former staffers quote corruptly manufactured the investigation to protect their jobs. After she found theyd receiving pornographic emails on their office computers. The investigation led to obstruction and conspiracy charges against kane. On monday, a judge ruled there was sufficient evidence for that case to go to trial. Kane has denied any wrongdoing. You can take a in depth look at the documents by going to cbsphilly. Com. Its not the new students and parents want to hear they move in fort up coming semester. Tonight a local university is issuing a warning after a string of burglaries near campus. Eyewitness News Reporter diana rocco is at Drexel University right now with more on that story. Diana . Reporter ukee, classes start here at drexel in just a couple of days, but tonight Campus Police are already issuing a warning to students to lock their doors and windows after a rash of break ins over the weekend. Signs of life are everywhere on drexel campus fall season is is just about to get started and with a warning from Campus Police. I was given instructions to make sure my doors are lock all the time whom would leave them open any ways and not to leave any valuables in sight. Owes lies says lives next door to one of the homes broke into one of five burglaries in the powell town village section of cam page between saturday and monday. Ill be moving my stuff already. I couldnt take any more chances. Reporter wink chan lives on the first floor. He came home saturday morning to find the ac unit had be been push out of his window and expensive cameras, watches and electronics were taken. I go to sleep thinking about it, you know, thinking about the guy that stole my camera using my camera. Its very painful, but, you know, all i can do is just move on and be more care tull neck time report roar Police Stepped up patrols by car and bike and students are keeping a close eye on their surroundings. Now im more scare. Definitely a little more cash. Locking the door. We always make sure our doors and windows are locked but you never know. Reporter the items taken consisted mostly of jewelry, electronics a few backpacks, Campus Police did zen out an email to the entire student bode tailing exactly what precautions they shall take. Were live in University City tonight, im diana rocco cbs3 Eyewitness News. Diane narks thank you. The excitement is building. Were now just 31 days away from the arrival of pope francis in philadelphia. And as you can imagine, preparations are in full swing. Now the bulk of the planning is complete, the city of philadelphia wants the community to get pumped up for the papal visit. Dr. Mayor nutter unveiled a new campaign called ill be there starting august 31 theyll begin contributing buttons and kits. They will include information about how business which is get involved and engaged visitors during the papal event. Officials say they are also planning fun activities all over that will be called the francis festival grounds. We want you to know you can still be part of this event. There will be 40 jumbotrons strategically placed across the francis fest recall grounds. 40 jumbotrons where you can see everything thats happening. Mayor nutter also announced the Reading Terminal market jacks firehouse in fairmount and some other businesses will remain open during the papal visit. Choirs from around the area that will be singing for the pope are rehearsing for the historic visit. The choir at Saint CharlesBorromeo Seminary held its first rehearsal tonight and white news was there as they practiced in wynnewood, montgomery county. The choir work on the him that will be hung to welcome the pontiff when he arrives in our area september 26th. Its just one of the selections the choir will perform for the pope. Those making the pilgrimage to see the pope via the subway will notice ren know vague at the walnut locust station. Septa is repainting the area including the floors and the columns there. The improvements to the broad street line were already planned but septa says repairs were sped up because of the expected increase in passengers. You can take a closer look at the street and highway closures information about mass transit and much more on our website there youll find a complete guide to the papal visit. Its all at cbsphilly. Com. It is a cool and comfortable evening out there and it look like our sunny stretch will continue but meteorologist kate bilo is also keeping an eye on the return of the heat. Kate. Thats right, jessica. Tonights temperatures so far comfortable take look at our temperatures across the region. Low 60s allentown, millville, 65 in wilmington. Still 73 degrees in philadelph philadelphia. A cool and comfy start to your thursday morning and the sunny stretch continues, but as we head into the weekend the humidity returns as does the heat and ill have the latest a brand new track just issued and a tweaked track from the National Hurricane center on Tropical Storm erika. Ill tell was this could mean for our area coming up in just a few minutes. Jessica. Coming up at 11 00 a new jersey man shoots down drone flying above a home and now hes facing criminal charges. Tonight were hearing from the owner of that unmanned aircraft. And the nation watched closely leading up to their birth but we have a sad update on the newborn panda cubs at washington, d. C. s national zoo im the same person but with cool new hands. Very cool. This little guy captured our hearts when he became the youngest person ever to receive a double hand transplant. The new milestones zion harvey just reached when Eyewitness News comes right back. After days of big losses the stock market rebounded in a big way today. The dow jones and s p 500 enjoyed their biggest percentage gains in four games. It snapped a six day slump. Dow was up 620 points to close 16,285. The nasdaq gained 191 points and the s p also sharply higher. One of two newborn panda cub the national zoo has died after 3. 5 days. Zoo officials have not announced the cause of the cubs death but said it would parm inner loop crop see. Mei xiang was only nursing the larger of the two babies. Zookeepers were trying to care for the weaker cub but said it never got stronger. Our panda team began administering antibiotic, respiratory support, fluids and nutrition support as appropria appropriate. Although we did see some slight improve many in the cubs overall condition and behavior, things turned and the cubs condition declined. The surviving cub remains with its mother and is said to be doing well. Were hearing tonight from the owner avenue drone that was shot down at jersey shore. Last september, leonard, was flying his drone over a friends house near the Cape May Canal when he heard a shotgun blast. He was taking photos of the construction on his friends house. The people next door had a different view of what was going on. Spy on my house. Basically a cueing me of spying. Police have charged russell who lives next to that site with criminal mischief and pogue avenue firearm for a lawful purpose. He answered his door today but said he wouldnt talk about without consulting his lawyers. Areas of Delaware County hit hard by a storm in june are eligible for state assistance. Gov november woman has issue a proclamation. The storms on june 23rd. More than 1,000 people without power. British scientist developed a blood test for Breast Cancer that could predict a relapse. Research chess looked for dna linked to the cancerous tumors remove. They say normal uming can only detect cancerous cells after theyve grown. Adorable eightyearold who made history with a double hand transplant in philadelphia has been discharged. Zion harvey is headed home tonight he became the youngest person to receive a double hand transplant he underwent the 11 hour operation back in july hell continue to receive therapy on outer loop basis. Way to go, zion. Going home feeling good. Hes just an mazing young man. That is fantastic. Happy news forty one that happy story to more happy news. More happy news. This is so exciting. If weve been waiting to announce this our morning meteorologist Katie Fehlinger has given birth to two healthy little girls. Parker janice and kadin if any born earl yes today. Everybody is healthy and doing well. And congratulations to katie and her hub steve. A warm welcome to the newest members of the Eyewitness News family. Were hoping to have some pictures by tomorrow morning of the babies. We are all eagerly awaiting those. We need pictures much. Thats great. Congratulations. That theyve arrived safely and healthy. What a blessing. On a hard news day like tod today. Good to have up lifting news. Great news in the weather depth as well lots of sunshine on the way for the next couple of days as we continue to be in a pattern of cool, dry air coming in from north and we have. Unfortunately thats going to change keep an eye on Tropical Storm erika he is special physical you have plans to head into the southeastern part of the United States later next week. Lets get right into it. Tack you out to our rooftop camera all lit up things looking good tonight. No problems out there. It feels fantastic outside right now. Storm scan3 is similarly quite there are a few showers even some lake effect rain showers the same kind of process we see with lake effect snow but this is rain cooler drier air moves over the comparatively lake waters in the great lakes. Temperatures right now again cool and comfy across most of the area still urban heat island effect. Right now its 73 degrees. Allentown at 63 and the Atlantic City airport at 69 degrees much its been an above average august as far as temperatures are concerned. Only three blue days those are the days that were cooler an average and they werent much cooler than average as you can see. Weve had a few days around normal but the majority of month has been above average looks like we may be close to normal the next couple of days and then we heat up again but even though its been warmer than normal its also been a drier than normal august. Weve had just under an inch of precipitation and thats almost 2inches below average. Only five days this month have had appreciable rainfall and it look look well get out of the month without adding anything to our rainfall totals. Thats good news. Become expect pretty nice days ahead as High Pressure still off to the west for your thursday. Northwest win keeping us cool and comfy. High pressure overhead for friday. Friday looks great as that high slips east get into a return flow more of a south west wind that will bring more humidity starring on saturday. Lets talk about Tropical Storm erika. Heres erika. You can see it look its strengthening but actual when they did the recognizance mission the central pleasure some really drawing. You have storms forming. Youre seeing that bubble up in the winds start to increase a little bit. Thats why it looks better organize but not much stronger than it was in fact still pretty minimal Tropical Storm but it does bear watching as we move into the end of the week and the weekend especially for portions of south florida and portions of the southeastern United States. Winds 45 Miles Per Hour gusts to 60. Again, winds 45 miles an hour. Weve seen that in a regular event. This is not a very strong storm at the moment. And it does have some survival to get through. As it moves that was the high sheer area here later this week as it heads towards the bahamas but heres the latest track from the National Hurricane center. We curve it further east away from florida. Now please note florida is still in the cone of uncertainty so south florida landfall still not out of the question but things are shifting east. I want to draw your attention to the dark maroon shading showing how warm the waters off the coast of florida, South Carolina and georgia. A chance that storm could get trapped and strengthen in the warm waters as we head into next week. That would be something to watch because that could then churn up the atlantic and could have potential impacts for us mainly in the form of rip currents and rough surf. Overnight tonight back to the good stuff. 65 degrees. Comfortable for your thursday lots of sun, really nice day. 83 degrees will be our daytime high and take look at eyewitness weather forecast. Boy, are you going to like it next two days look great. But if youre saying man i really would like some more summer heat and humidity. If you are, 88 on saturday. Were back to the 90s errly next week. And might i remind you soon enough its going to get cold again so enjoy the 90s while we have it. Because theyre going to be here forever. You dont have tore mine me. Ive got it etched in my memory. Thanks so much. Come on pat take us out to the ballgame. The mets combined for 14 homerun the last two nights. Well tell you how many left the yard tonight. Terrell suggests gets his point of view on so much for a split of the four game set. It was ugly. It got ugly for the phillies knowledge other way around it. It was an ugly series for the Philadelphia Phillies as the mets offense lit the fireworks for three straight games. The phils start off on the wrong foot and its always an adventure in centerfield with herrara. He drops this one. Catchable fly ball. That would lead to a 311th inning for the mets. Michael, ropes a double into the gap. That would put the mets up two to nothing. Michael, would knock in the third run of the inning. Injury read through 40 pitches in the first. We move to the eighth. For good measure he goes up and way out. Monster two run homerun into the upper deck. Phils lose nine to four. The mets hit 10 homeruns, scored 31 runs in the three game sweep. In just a few days the eagles starters will likely get a majority of the reps in the final tune up before the regular season. As they take on Aaron Rodgers and the green bay packers. The birds will travel to Lambeau Field on saturday for an 8 00 oclock kick off. Jason peters talks about the importance of the third preseason game. Preseason game always going to tell i was little bit more. We play little bit more. Um, we just trying to and get good work, work on all that stuff we need to work on before the opener and sharpen our tools. Today we heard from terrell suggests for the First Time Since laying that low hit on eagles quarterback sam bradford. Suggests says hes understanding of the reaction by the eagles and the fans. Theyre just sticking up for their guy. Jason peters did just that and bradford was thankful. What do you expect . I mean, um, you know, if it were my quarterback, you know, no matter wants to see their quarterback get hit, you know. But i think, you know, had people had a Firm Understanding of the read option. You know what im saying. I think their frustration they wouldnt be as frustrated. He came up to me and told me thank you. I told him i got his back no matter. Whether its wrong or right. Today has been a rough day. Devon still gave us update today on lea still and he tweeted this picture saying, big shout out to my baby for beasting through her six days of treatment. Cancer messed with the wrong girl because theres nothing that can take that smile off her face. Awesome. Keep fighting. You said it. You got that right. Ill tell was a mess the worlds biggest food fight. More than 20,000 people pelted each other in the street with tomatoes during the festival in spain today. Its the 70th anniversary of the annual event and the tomato festival inspired by a food fight by local kids in 1945. 175 tons of tomatoes from seven trucks were used in this battle. The beat goes on. Eyewitness news returns tomorrow morning at 4 30 with nicole brewer, meteorologist kyla grogan and track with meisha johnson. For pat, kate, our entire news team. Im jessica dean. Thank you so much for watching. Good night, family. Sleep well. Male announcer the following is paid for and furnished by hair club for men and women. This station is not responsible for claims made in the following program. Female announcer when it comes to hair loss in women, the reasons why can be as varied as the women themselves. But there is one proven hair solution that has taken these women from this to this in as little as six weeks. Its not a wig and its not a weave. Its their own hair, only better, thanks to the only nationwide company that specializes in female hair loss hair club for women. 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