"I cannot tell you how much they were loved," Marks said. The station described the two dead journalists as an ambitious reporter-and-cameraman team who often produced light and breezy feature stories for the morning program. An image caught on camera showed what appeared to be a man in dark clothing facing the camera with a weapon in his right hand. Gunshots erupted, and as Ward fell his camera hit the ground but kept running. The station's early morning broadcast showed Parker interviewing Gardner about the lake and tourism development in the area. "Why were they (Parker and Ward) the targets, and not I or somebody else in management?" he said. Speaking to CNN about Flanagan, he added, "Do you imagine that everyone who leaves your company under difficult circumstances is going to take aim?" WDBJ7 President and General Manager Jeff Marks said he could not figure out a particular connection between Flanagan and the two dead journalists. The Florida case was settled and dismissed the next year, court records show. He also said a supervisor at the station called black people lazy. "We still have a lengthy investigation to conduct and that's our focus as we move forward."įlanagan had sued another station where he worked in Florida, alleging he had been discriminated against because he was black.įlanagan said he was called a "monkey" by a producer in a lawsuit filed in federal court against a Tallahassee station, WTWC, in 2000. "It appears things were spiraling out of control, but we’re still looking into that," he said. "It's obvious that this gentleman was disturbed in some way at the way things had transpired at some part of his life," Overton told a news conference. He was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital near Washington, where he died. Minutes later, the suspect's vehicle ran off the road and crashed, police said in a statement, adding the troopers approached the vehicle and found the driver with a gunshot wound. Virginia state police said the suspect refused to stop when spotted by troopers and sped away. ABC News then contacted authorities and turned over the fax, which had arrived about 90 minutes earlier, the network said.įlanagan shot himself as Virginia State Police were closing in on a rental car on Interstate 66 in Fauquier County, WDBJ7 said. Flanagan said he had shot two people, police were after him and then hung up. In the fax to ABC News, Flanagan praised shooters who had carried out mass killings at Virginia Tech University in 2007 and at Colorado's Columbine High School in 1999.ĪBC News said Flanagan called the network shortly after 10 a.m. The person purporting to be Williams also posted, "I filmed the shooting see Facebook" as well as saying one of the victims had "made racist comments." One video clearly showed a handgun as the person filming approached the woman reporter. The videos were removed shortly afterward. The videos were posted to a Twitter account and on Facebook by a man identifying himself as Bryce Williams, which was Flanagan's on-air name. Hours after the shooting, someone claiming to have filmed it posted video online. The broadcast was abruptly interrupted by the sound of gunshots as Parker and the woman being interviewed, Vicki Gardner, executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, screamed and ducked for cover. EDT (1045 GMT) at Bridgewater Plaza, a Smith Mountain Lake recreation site about 200 miles (320 km) southwest of Washington. The on-air shooting occurred at about 6:45 a.m. "I've been a human powder keg for a while. but my anger has been building steadily," ABC News cited the fax as saying. "The church shooting was the tipping point. He had been attacked by black men and white women, and for being a gay black man, he said. The network cited Flanagan as saying he had suffered racial discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying at work. Nine people were killed, and a white man has been charged in that rampage. The person also posted video that appeared to show the attack filmed from the shooter's vantage point.įlanagan sent ABC News a 23-page fax about two hours after the shooting, saying his attack was triggered by the June 17 mass shooting at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, the network said. Social media postings by a person who appeared to be Flanagan indicated the suspect had grievances against the station, CBS affiliate WDBJ7 in Roanoke, Virginia, which let him go two years ago.
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