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Forums - General Discussion - CBS journalists shot and killed during live broadcast in Virginia

http://news.yahoo.com/cbs-journalists-shot-killed-live-broadcast-130723506.html

A pair of television journalists at a CBS affiliate in Virginia were shot and killed during a live broadcast Wednesday morning, and authorities say they are in pursuit of the suspected shooter.

Authorities said they are looking for Vester Flanagan, a 41-year-old former WDBJ-TV reporter who went by the name Bryce Williams on air.

The victims, WDBJ-TV reporter Alison Parker, 24, and Adam Ward, her 27-year-old cameraman, died shortly after the shooting, which occurred at approximately 6:45 a.m. at Bridgewater Plaza in Moneta, Va., near Smith Mountain Lake.

Part of the shooting was captured on the air as Parker was interviewing Vicky Gardner, the head of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce. According to the Roanoke Times, Gardner was shot in the back and taken to a hospital for surgery. Gardner's condition was not immediately clear.

 

A chilling, 25-second video posted to a Twitter account appearing to belong to Williams shows what appears to be the shooter holding a gun behind Parker and Ward during their live shot, then firing three shots as Parker tries to flee.

"I filmed the shooting," Williams tweeted after alleging Parker had made "racist comments" about him.

The Twitter account has since been suspended.


A still image taken from the on-air video shows the image of a man who appears to be holding a handgun.


Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe
told WTOP radio that police were pursuing the suspect on Interstate 64, and that his apprehension was imminent. McAuliffe said suspected shooter had been identified by authorities and is believed to a "disgruntled employee" at the station.

 

According to public records, Flanagan filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against WTWC in Tallahassee after the station fired him in December 1999. In the suit, Flanagan says he was the victim of racial discrimination and retaliation during his nine months on the job. The station denied the allegations, saying Flanagan was dismissed for poor performance and office misbehavior.

WDBJ-TV president and general manager Jeff Marks confirmed the deaths of the journalists in an on-air update shortly after 9 a.m.

"It is my very very sad duty to report ... that Adam and Alison died this morning," Marks told viewers. "I cannot tell you how much they were loved, Alison and Adam. Our hearts are broken."

According to WDBJ-TV, Ward graduated from Virginia Tech. Parker, who grew up in Martinsville, Va., was a recent graduate of James Madison University.

Parker had just moved in with her boyfriend of nearly nine months, fellow WDBJ anchor Chris Hurst, who said they planned on getting married.

Ward's fiancé, Melissa Ott, worked as a morning producer at the station. According to Marks, Ott was in the control room at the time of the incident and saw the shooting happen live.

It was Ott's last day at WDBJ. She had taken a job in Charlotte, and Ward was going to follow her.



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Gun laws in the US are fucked up. When will you learn America?



Shooter even filmed himself doing it and put it on facebook and twitter. It's crazy what technology allows these days. Very sad news



Samus Aran said:
Gun laws in the US are fucked up. When will you learn America?


Wouldn't make a difference. Just about anything can be used to kill a person. It's easier to track down a killer who used a gun. He could of used something worse.



celador said:
Shooter even filmed himself doing it and put it on facebook and twitter. It's crazy what technology allows these days. Very sad news


I hope that he doesn't go the temporary insanity route on this and just pleads guility.



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Pretty insane.. He killed them and posted his own video on social media.. Scary stuff.. Hope it will not inspire people to do the same.. Imagine all those high school shootings with a First person video.. Horrible



 

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Aeolus451 said:
celador said:
Shooter even filmed himself doing it and put it on facebook and twitter. It's crazy what technology allows these days. Very sad news


I hope that he doesn't go the temporary insanity route on this and just pleads guility.


more likely he'll invoke trump as his defense.



Aeolus451 said:


I hope that he doesn't go the temporary insanity route on this and just pleads guility.


In his own video he appears to be very calm, stands behind the cameraman.. waits a few seconds till he knows the camera is Rolling and is on live tv and then proceeds to draw his gun and kills them.. Looked very planned



 

Face the future.. Gamecenter ID: nikkom_nl (oh no he didn't!!) 

But Virginia is for lovers 😢 Why all these crazies everywhere? I could drive to that place where it happened in 45 minutes. Two weeks ago a woman almost got raped by an Uber driver. I was about to buy an AR too. Now these fools might raise prices again.







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Aeolus451 said:
Samus Aran said:
Gun laws in the US are fucked up. When will you learn America?


Wouldn't make a difference. Just about anything can be used to kill a person. It's easier to track down a killer who used a gun. He could of used something worse.

Yet gun-related deaths are much higher in the US than any European country. Overall murder rates are also higher in the USA than continental Europe and Great Britain.

In my country Brussels has a big problem with illegal weapons and it nearly cost the life of many people on a Thalys train to Paris (attack was stopped by 3 American tourists and a British person though). So yes, better laws against guns (and the enforcement of said laws) could save many potential lives. The weapon industry has too much influence in the USA and also Belgium (weapon export is one of the most important economical sectors here).