Alison Parker
Police are frantically searching for the disgruntled employee of a Roanoke, Virginia news station who gunned down a reporter along with a cameraman, leaving both dead and the station and community in shock.
Fox News is reporting on the tragedy which took place at approximately 6:45 a.m. this morning when WDBJ reporter Alison Parker, 24, was conducting a live interview with Vicki Gardner, executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, at Bridgewater Plaza which is just outside of Moneta, Virginia.
Photographer, Adam Ward, 27, was filming the scene when a series of shots rang out. The women both scream and fall. The camera then begins to tumble. Just as it hits the ground, the audience catches a very brief glimpse of a man who appears to be pointing a gun toward the downed cameraman.
The station immediately cut away from the scene and returned to the newsroom where a shocked anchor, Kimberly McBroom, struggles to make sense of what just happened.
A few minutes later, WDBJ General Manager Jeff Marks appears in the studio and announces that both Parker and Ward had just been killed.
“We do not know the motive. We do not know who the killer is,” Marks said. “We do know the Franklin County sheriff … they are working very diligently to track down both the motive and the person responsible for this terrible crime against two fine journalists.”
Adam Ward
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe later revealed that the suspected gunman is a disgruntled former employee of the station. The suspect’s identity has not yet been revealed.
Gardner, who was being interviewed at the time, was shot in the back and is in surgery in a local hospital.
Parker’s boyfriend, WDBJ anchor Chris Hurst, revealed the couple’s relationship for the first time, saying the two were very much in love, were planning to marry, and had just moved in together. He described himself as being “numb” after learning of her death.
Ward was engaged to be married to morning show producer Melissa Ott, who was producing the show at the time of the shooting. She claims her fiancé had recently told her that he wanted to do something else and get out of news.
As a result of the shooting, local schools are on lockdown as law enforcement work to bring the killer to justice.
UPDATE: The Augusta County Sheriff’s Office has identified the suspect and former WDBJ employee as 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan II, of Roanoke. Fox News has confirmed that the suspect shot himself after a brief car chase with police and has died in a local hospital.
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