Reporter the first accused Alison Parker of making racist comments. Then that he had filed a complaint. Then questioned her hiring. Reporter they were followed by a similar accusation against her photographer. And most chilling. I filmed the killing. See facebook. A short time later, flanagans car was spotted on an Interstate West of washington, d c. Reporter the killer ended up crashing the car and when police approached, he shot himself. Flanagan was flown to a nova Fairfax Hospital where he died at approximately 1 30 pm today. Reporter this afternoon. The family of the gunman. Vester flanagan. Made this statement quote pam it is with heavy hearts. And deep sadness. That we express our deepest condolences to the families of Alison Parker and adam ward. Pam we are also praying for the recovery of Vicki Gardner. Our thoughts and prayers at this time are with the victims families. And the wbdj7 news family. Pam words cannot express the hurt that we feel for the victtims. Our family is a
Gunmans past. Jr stone has the chilling final words he left behind. Pam the shooters bay area family spoke to kron 4s alecia reid. We will check in with her in a minute. But first, we go to ryan nobles. Pam he is live tonight in roanoke. male announcer this is the bay area news station, kron 4 news starts now. Reporter tonight were learning more about the shooter Vester Flanagan who went by the name Bryce Williams on air. He was a native of oakland. He was not going to leave willingly on his own free will permit it was a tough situation creek reporter 1 would have guessed disparate this is the last image before the feed stock split seconds before, Allison Parker and cameramen ward was on location. People that were among the kindest nicest people that work here. Reporter about two hours after the attack desexed a suicide note to abc news creek he says he was voted for being gay and black. And was inspired after the Charleston Church shooting. France and families are now remembering the
Theyre looking closely at the shooter as background to see what could have led him to commit this crime on live tv. He bounced around the country working as a journalist, he was fired. Two years ago the management had to call police after firing him. he actually had to be escorted by the police out of the building because he was not willing to leave. Ryan but nobody would have guessed this, that he would shoot the reporter and the cameraman who were interviewing a local he ambushed the team while filming with his oncamera, he shot all three people, telling the reporter and the cameraman killing soon he posted his video to social media, and he then faxed a suicide note he blamed it on fraught persecution for being gay and black and now 2 people are killed simply for doing their jobs the father of the reporter came to the crime scene and was joined by her boyfriend, also an anchor at the station he said that when he they learned the name of the shooter they were not surprised and describ
Join is not in a moment of silence the morning newscast marked 24 hours since two of the stations journalists were killed during a live broadcast. Polo sandoval she was in relationship there remembered as a go getter she was also shot her condition has been upgraded to good her husband was watching when the shooting happened the gunman was a former reporter where were at the rotation or was fired two years ago he later died from a selfinflicted gunshot wound and a 20 page faxon to abc news the rice was a powder keg and his words wedding to go bloom were also learning today than the close to several protest of its previous job in Television News before yesterdays shooting. Mark man who shot the tv news crews connected to bay area is an oakland native and we learn more or child of he went to montero middle school and graduated from Skyline High School or in 1991 he grabbed also should be the he was homecoming princess he went on to attend San Francisco state and at one point he was an in
Good evening, ill julie haener. And im frank somerville. He was a Television News reporter, but today, he made news for all the wrong reasons. A graduate of bay area state, fired by a television station in roanoke, virginia two years ago. Today he emerged from the shadows and ambushed two former colleagues, as they were carrying out an interview on live television. Were going to begin our coverage, not by talking about the gunman, but by talking about the victims. Reporter three victims were shot, frank. The reporter, the photographer, both killed, and the woman that they were interviewing is in the hospital tonight. Alison parker was doing her job. A routine interview on tourism. Her friend and colleague photographer adam ward was behind the camera. A team who worked closely together, rising stars at wdbj and then as viewers watched on live tv, the gunfire began coworkers, shocked, in horror watched it all. The station general manager later delivered the news. We have determined throu