We often discuss the “perils of the press” in humorous stories of the unexpected for journalists. However, we are often reminded of the dangers faced by reporters in their daily jobs. Today offered one such tragic example from Moneta, Virginia. Vester Lee Flanagan, who used the name on-air of Bryce Williams, shot and killed WDBJ reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27. He then posted the filmed event and tweeted about it. It is a bizarre and chilling example of how social media has become intertwined with such crimes in our society. Flanagan later shot himself in a confrontation with police.
Flanagan (shown left) said that Parker made “racist comments” and that he had filed a complaint was filed against her through the equal employment opportunity commission. Ward had worked with Flanagan and he said that Ward had complained about having to work with him. He then shared his attack on Twitter. Parker, 24, and Ward, 27, died at the scene while the woman being interviewed was rushed to Roanoke Memorial Hospital for emergency surgery.
Ward was engaged to Melissa Ott, a news producer who was working on the show and watched from the control room as the shooting happened. This was her last day on the job because she was about to start a new job in Charlotte, North Carolina and Ward planned to move with her. The office-mates had just thrown a party that morning for her.
These cases often raise civil liability for the employer. While the criminal case is apparently closed given the statements and film of the deceased, families can sometimes sue over the failure of an employer to warn them or take some action. In this case, it appears that Flanagan is no longer working for the station so that insulates the studio to some extent. There can be questions however is anyone had reason to know of a violent predisposition or targeting of these victims. There is no indication of such forewarning or prior indications of violence at this time. This type of delayed and unhinged response is very difficult for anyone to foresee and an employer cannot monitor former employees for years.
I can only imagine the grief of these families and survivors when faced with such a senseless act. The chilling combination of social media deepens the unfathomable aspects of this double murder.
The video is graphic and available here
Same old tired, disproved BS about guns making anyone safer. Especially women. The latest study and meta-analysis comes from the Annals of Internal Medicine–I know, I know, a horrible liberal bastion of scientists and people with MD’s and PhD’s. But it is absolutely clear that if you are a women you are much more likely to die, be murdered, killed, rendered dead, if there is a gun in your house:
http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1814426
Read it and weep. Or at least stop posting nonsense.
PhillyT
If what you say about guns is true then law enforcement should be an unmarried priesthood because of the women and children at risk within the current system.
“Gun Control is the Answer.” Yes- learning how to use and manage one properly is a long ways towards “the answer”. Making it harder for law abiding citizens to own and use guns is not “the answer”, because, if it was, explain Chicago. Anyone who does not understand why the 2nd Amendment exists need merely look at an American flag, a flag that would not exist today if George Washington and friends had not been paranoid gun nuts with military grade weapons when their own government turned against them.
Quite untrue about greater gun violence in the UK than in the States.
Absolutely, categorically untrue.
This story is utterly ridiculous. The link is to The Daily Mail, otherwise known as the The Daily Hoax. You people seriously need to wake up and do some critical thinking and observation. The AGENDA is to CENSOR THE INTERNET. The NDAA in classic double speak makes it perfectly LEGAL for the United States Government in all it’s criminal glory to use the media in whatever way it sees fit to SHAPE PUBLIC OPINION. These phony fake shows are nothing but advertisements; a nice word for propaganda. Anyone believing this shite is in a coma and just because millions of fools are also sleep walking does not make it real. WAKE UP.
Charleston Church Shooting Hoax Agenda Absolutely EXPOSED!
While on the run from police, this is what he posted to his social media:
“Why did I do it? I put a deposit for a gun on 6/19/15. The Church shooting in Charleston happened on 6/17/15…What sent me over the top was the church shooting…You want a race war ($%^&)? BRING IT THEN YOU WHITE …(%^&*)!!!”
Jeff Marks, station manager of WDBJ, said , Williams was “an unhappy man” with a “reputation as someone who had been difficult to work with… looking out for people to say things that he could take offense to.”
Considering he just murdered two people for what he alleged happened 2 years ago, this seems plausible.
That’s really sad.
You are more likely to be the victim of a violent crime in the UK, where guns are outlawed, than here in the US. In the UK, break-ins tend to happen when the family is home because that’s when it’s more likely for the alarm to be disabled. So little old ladies are more likely to be beaten in their beds.
You need to compare violence with violence. Who cares what tool is used, if you really care about safety.
I am quite concerned about the racial riots going on, seemingly urged on by the media, politicians, and activists who use words like “triggers”, “rages against the system”, and so on.
What we know for sure is this unarmed man shot two unarmed people. The rest will hopefully come out soon.
Why don’t we move to ban all cars or all hammers or all duct tape after they are used in a crime? Well, because they are tools that are more often used for lawful purposes, and we don’t blame the tool; we punish the criminal. But that logic dissolves when we’re talking about firearms.
We read all the time about angry exes being willing to go to jail just so they can kill a woman they think belongs to them. A firearm or really excellent martial arts training is the only defense a woman has against a much stronger man bent on killing her. Disarm her, and you’re made her helpless.
There is evil in this world folks. There are evil people of all races and religions. Always has been, always will be. It is just now all on video w/ the ubiquity of surveillance and media.
The fact that he’s black is causing cross rip currents and agita in the MSM.
The cowardly shooter tweeted before killing himself that “Alison made racist comments.” This guy is an ebony Dylan Roof.
RWL:
“A classic example of the ‘chickens coming home to roost.’”
It sounds like you are blaming the general manager for these two murders.
We don’t know yet what happened between the people involved. It has been reported that the cameraman filed a complaint with HR. I can’t imagine that complaint said, “I won’t work with this guy because he’s black.” Others have alleged that the shooter made racial discrimination allegations everywhere he’s worked. We need more information.
I don’t blame the manager for this guy showing up and shooting two people for something he alleged happened 2 years ago. In light of recent events, Ward may have been on to something making whatever complaint he did.
I love the 2nd Amendment, not guns. I only own one and NO ONE will ever take it from me.
Olly
1, August 26, 2015 at 6:26 pm
“Situational awareness is practical and it still would not have prevented these two people from being killed today.”
************************
Hear, hear!
This angry man blames being fired as the reason for this act. BAN FIRING. Actually, if he worked for the govt. he never would have been fired.
He could have beaten this people w/ a baseball bat. BAN BASEBALL BATS.
This man could just as easily driven a car into reporters doing a remote in a parking lot, on the street etc. BAN CARS!!
Nick
What do you think about the theory that some of the people who hate guns are secretly or subconsciously afraid of what they would do if they had a gun?
The shooter made numerous UNFOUNDED claims of racism in his firing.
Situational awareness is practical and it still would not have prevented these two people from being killed today. The suicide letter he penned and sent to ABC News today described a man that was clearly unbalanced and motivated to carry out this type of violence. If it wasn’t a gun it would have been some other weapon, at some other location and at some other time.
It’s effing despicable that ANYONE would use this tragedy as an opportunity to promote an ideological agenda. Effing cowards, go take a civics class.
In a polemic, the angry black shooter said this is a race war and payback for Dylan Roof. The coward took his life.
For the record, I am 100% with Professor Ninian Peckitt. It’s time to amend the Constitution or whatever it takes to get guns under control. We are not safer because of guns. We never have been. We have more guns per capita than almost any other country, and by no measure are we safer, happier, better off, etc.
Having a gun in your home makes you more likely to die from that gun in one way or another. It makes it more likely that someone in your home will die. Period. In no way are you safer except perhaps in your imagination.
The slaughter of children in schools did not do it. The slaughter of movie-goers did not do it. But eventually something will.
In the meantime the process can and should be “well regulated”. Every gun owner required to have training, be tested, be insured, be registered for every purchase of guns or ammo, and renew the license and certification every year or two. Every loophole should be closed. Every sale logged. Ammo and explosives chemically tagged. Local law enforcement notified when anyone like this shooter (who they said they were watching), comes into possession of a weapon. Psychiatrists and others in positions of knowledge and authority should be able to flag anyone they consider to be a danger to themselves or others, mentally unstable, violent, abusive etc. That person would then have to go through an appeals process to get permission to buy or have a gun.
Please carry on, gun lovers, about how safe your gun makes you feel, and how your rights excuse our national mayhem.
Speaking of sharp and using the “weapon” control logic in this thread, expect background checks before being served in an Oklahoma steakhouse.
http://www.westernjournalism.com/this-state-politician-was-just-stabbed-to-death-witnesses-reveal-the-heartbreaking-suspect/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=TPNNPages&utm_content=2015-08-26