On-air deaths: heartbreak and anger

Published Aug 27, 2015

Share

Virginia - Neither Alison Parker, a local television reporter, nor Adam Ward, her cameraman, on Wednesday morning, noticed the approach of a one-time colleague called Bryce Williams at the shopping mall on Virginia's Smith Mountain Lake.

Just after sunrise, the 24-year-old Parker and Ward, 27, were interviewing, live, Vicki Gardner, of the local Regional Chamber of Commerce, for a breakfast segment on tourism. As the camera rolled, Williams, who is reported to have worked at Virginia station, WDBJ-7, for a short and troubled period, was preparing his own piece to camera.

Always filming, he walked towards the group of three, stopping to check the zoom was working. Then, after about 20 seconds, he pulled out a handgun. Eight shots are thought to have been fired, killing Parker and Ward, and injuring Gardner.

Parker's own interview ends abruptly with Ward's camera falling to the ground. Williams's face can briefly be seen amid the screams.

Williams, real name Vester Lee Flanagan II, is thought to have worked at the station in Roanoke for around 12 months until 2013. The Roanoke Times reported that his time at the station was troubled and Williams claimed he had been discriminated against at work.

Before apparently shooting Parker, Ward and Gardner on Wednesday, the 41-year-old Williams had vented his frustrations, via Twitter, against his former colleagues. “Alison made racist comments,” he said, adding that he had filed a report with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that enforces employment discrimination laws.

“They hired her after that???” he added, one minute later. Another 60 seconds passed before the next missive. “Adam went to hr on me after working with me one time!!!”. The last posting said: “I filmed the shooting see Facebook.”

After the killings, Williams crashed his vehicle at around 11.30am near Interstate 66. He was found suffering from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound and later died in hospital.

Virginia State Police said: “The suspect vehicle refused to stop and sped away from the trooper. Minutes later, the suspect vehicle ran off the road and crashed. The troopers approached the vehicle and found the male driver suffering from a gunshot wound.”

In New York, ABC News said its office had received a fax from someone who identified himself as Bryce Williams. The fax, around 23 pages long, was turned over to authorities.

Virginia's governor, Terry McAuliffe, said: “There are certain people who should not be entitled to a firearm.” A “heartbroken and angry” Hillary Clinton said: “We must act to stop gun violence, and we cannot wait any longer.”

Journalist Heather Myers, who works at the SD6 station in San Diego, wrote on Twitter that her news director had “hired and fired” Williams in 2000, in Florida.

“Fired for bizarre behaviour and threatening employees,” she wrote. WDBJ president and general manager Jeffrey Marks confirmed to ABC News that Williams used to work at the station but was dismissed. He described him as “an unhappy man” who “quickly became known for a reputation for being difficult to work with”.

Williams had sued WTWC, a station where he worked as a weekend news anchor and night reporter, in Florida, alleging discrimination because he was black. He said he was called a “monkey” by a producer, in a lawsuit filed in federal court against WTWC, in 2000.

He also said a supervisor at the station called black people lazy. The Florida case was settled and dismissed the next year, court records show.

Roanoke Police Department also paid tribute to Parker and Ward.

“Alison and Adam were both held in high regard by officers for their hard work and professionalism,” the department said.

“Alison was always very kind-hearted to the officers she interviewed and had the ability to tell a great story. Adam always put our officers, who might have been a little nervous when being interviewed, at ease with his kind words and warm smile.”

undefined

Parker’s father said his “grief was unbearable”. Andy Parker told The Washington Post that his wife first learnt of the shooting in a text message from WDBJ. He says they did not know her condition at first but feared the worst when they didn't hear from her.

The two journalists both had partners. Ward's fiancée was said to have in the control room at the time of the shooting.

Parker's boyfriend, Chris Hurst, himself a journalist, said they had been together for nine months and were also planning to wed.

“It was the best nine months of our lives,” he said in a series of messages posted on social media. “She was the most radiant woman I ever met. And for some reason she loved me back. She loved her family, her parents and her brother.”

The Independent

Related Topics: