we do not know who the suspect or who the killer is. reporter alison parker, photojournalist adam ward both widely respected. each deeply in love and on the verge of beginning new lives with the ones they loved. we ll focus heavily tonight on those stories. we will also bring you new details about the killer who took his own life. what we won t be doing is turning this hour into his story. we ll be mentioning his name and showing his picture as little as possible. his stated motives and violent history matter giving him any further publicity even in death certainly does not. with that we begin with brian todd in this awful timeline. reporter: it s 6:45 a.m. wdbj reporter alison parker is giving a live interview. adam ward is photographing. then shots ring out. both parker and ward are hit as well as the woman being interviewed. ward s camera films the shooter, gun raised in the air as he laid dying ward s last living act capturing an image of his own
welcome back to the lead. i m john berman in for jake tapper today. we re joined by chris hurst, alison parker s boyfriend. chris is talking about alison, because he wants to talk about alison, because that is the best way i think for you, chris, to get thus these next days. we are so happy to hear your thoughts and your memories about this wonderful, wonderful person. so thanks again for being with us. i want to ask you about your colleagues at wdbj. watching what they have done today and yesterday has been remarkable. the moment of silence this morning, putting on, those doing the weather in roanoke when you look at this guy who cares what s in the sky on a day like today, but people need to know.
i wonder what they re all going through at the station. we have another case of office violence and workplace violence and wdbj-7 is not unique, a close-knit family. ours was special, and you know from your experience in television news and many people outside know how different shifts are different mini-families, whether it s first shift, third shift, overnight. you grow to have a bond with your specific shift. and for kimberly mcbroom and lee on hurst brenner to do what they have done the past two days are remarkable, but they are broken. all of the behind the scenes staff, the production staff, the
said the day he was let go, he became agitated and threatening. police were called. flanagan was escorted from the building. roanoke police say no arrest was made. wdbj station manager says flanagan was asked to seek mental health assistance and he complied. we made it mandatory that he seek help from our employee assistance program. comes have them. they provide counseling and other services and we made it mandatory that he do that. reporter: the station s former news director says flanagan handed him a wooden cross in 2013 saying, you ll need this. wdbj is right over there. this is the apartment complex where vester flanagan lived. just about a block away. right now it s under 24/7 security. brian fuqua worked as a of practicer with vester flanagan, said he was always on edge around flanagan because of his temper and recalls one instance when a live report had technical problems. he got so irate, threw his stuff down, walked out into the woods. stayed there like 20 minutes.
for everyone in that community. reporters in particular, journalists. how i are people processing this this evening? you know, you are right. it is a shock to anyone who does this job. the roanoke valley area, wdbj is a solid station them sheriff said he was watching the morning newscast and knew the reporter from a previous interview. all day long at the wdbj studios people have been bringing flowers, holding prayer circles. area businesses bringing in food to employees there. employees were struggling through their day after losing these two colleagues. it s up and down this area of virginia, a very difficult day. not only for the profession but those who watch television and get to know these reporters. my sense is that there were thousands of people in that area