Im George Stephanopoulos in for david tonight. We want to get right to that deadly shooting in virginia. A gunman targeting two young journalists with cameras rolling, theirs and his. Two journalists killed, another victim expect to survive. The gunman killed himself after a police chase. Well never know why he set out not just to murder but to broadcast the crime on live tv and by filming it himself for social media. Something we wrestled with today, whether to grant the gunman his last wish by playing his video. We will not. Our Team Coverage starts with jim avila. Reporter a live tv interview on local tourism fatally interpreted. No warnings, just bullets followed by screams. After the victims fall, the shooters image briefly captured on camera before he flees. The anchor back in the studio is stunned. I heard a pow, pow, pow and it did not register that it was gunshots. It probably should have but shes doing a little feature at the at the lake. Reporter in the control room, the new
Gunshot wound. Families and coworkers mourn. They were special people, they would brighten up a room every morning. Two people in the prime of their lives, gunned down early in their promising careers. In monday etta, virginia, dave wagner, nbc news. As dave reported there, the general manager of wdbj described Vester Flanagan as an unhappy, angry man who was eventually fired. He had trouble at previous jobs. He sued a former employer of race discrimination 15 years ago. The lawsuit claimed a producer at a tv station called him a monkey. He also claimed a white supervisor called black people lazy. Nbc10 has learned the significant others of both journalists have ties to our area. The reporter who was killed was dating the stations evening news anchor. Hurst is from the philadelphia area, he went to Conestoga High School and attended Temple University. He tweeted this photo today saying, she was the most radiant woman i ever met and for some reason she loved me back. He says the two rec
Interview, shot and killed as viewers watched. This is the broadcast right up to the point of the shooting. Alison parker and 27yearold photographer allen ward are dead. The woman being interviewed seriously wounded. As the photographer fell, his camera captured the killers image, an early lead that helped Police Identify the suspect. A former reporter who went by the name of Bryce Williams. Flanagan had been fired and filed a complaint of discrimination. He was an unhappy man. After many incidents of his anger coming to the fore, we dismissed him. And he did not take that well. He used his own video camera to capture the killings, and within hours posted that shocking video to facebook. As police searched for flanagan, he was live tweeting derogatory remarks. Something snapped in his mind, i dont know. Virginia state Police Spotted the suspects car on i66 in northern virginia. Pfrq he ran off the road into the median. When trooper neff approached the vehicle she found him suffering fr
Suspect. The shooting happened on Live Television during an interview, heres what their colleagues had to say. Today was just like any other day, they did great work every day. Put their all into what they did, im going to miss them. Wards fiancee was in the control room as the producer of that morning show, melissa ott was celebrating her final day at the station. She and adam ward both planned to move to charlotte. Ott is from south jersey, an intern here at nbc10 in 2010. Cydney long spoke to otts relatives tonight and joins us live from gibbstown. Sydney . Melissa ott grew up in this home and spent her summers working at her uncles bar just down the street, picking and packing fruit. Today was to be the day she would pack up and start a plan new journey with the man she planned to marry. They were making plans for their wedding, was going to be down in virginia, home style, very upsetting, i just i dont know what to say. John held back tears as he looked at a photo of his beloved n
Maybe in its sights. Nightly news begins right now. Announcer from nbc news World Headquarters in new york, this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. Good evening. We have reported so many senseless acts of violence but never have we seen it unfold on Live Television as it did in roanoke, virginia this morning. Two young journalists murdered and a woman they were interviewing injured in a hail of bullets by a man with a gun in one hand and a rolling video camera in the other. Anyone who saw it live or later on the internet has been left shaken to the core. And yes, it hits close to home. Were going to be very careful about what images we show you tonight as we take you through what happened, describe the killers twisted social media postings and tell you about the lives he took or left shattered. Lets begin with nbcs hallie jackson. Reporter a Live Television interview that started like any other ended in horror at 6 43 this morning. Gunshots, screams, then silence. The broadcast quic