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. Â In this case, it appears that Flanagan is no longer working for the station so that insulates the studio to some extent. Â 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. Â 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
peckitt
Sorry. Twenty children are killed and no changes were made. This country will never ban guns. We don’t really care about the loss of life – not even the loss of children. The ‘tra la la las’ and the yawns are the true honest responses to gun deaths in this country.
Henry H:
Stop talking nonsense. Go and give your message to the families of these victims.
You disgust me.
Nick Spinelli
I have no interest in ass kicking. This posting is about Americans getting shot on TV in a gun obsessed society supported by stupid people with ridiculous arguments. You have said you were shot twice in the past and you defence of putting guns in the hands of lunatics is pathonomonic of the problem. It’s not a gun problem it’s a “You” Problem. You – who are promoting the bearing of arms are responsible for this sort of carnage and destruction of lives. It is You who are smug because you escape being the victim. These are the concepts of extinct thinking and we all await the inevitable end – a ban on arms in public places.
peckitt
There are hundreds of stats on the web that break down gun violence by country per 100k population. They all blow her ridiculous statement out of the water.
Karen S: Guns in UK
You are talking absolute nonsense. You have a population of over 300million against our 60 million in the UK. Even if we were stupid enough to be armed to the teeth on a par with US citizens, the probability of gun murders are higher in the USA on a population basis alone.
Gun control is tight in the UK and we don’t have your problems – nor will we ever have these problems.
ninian – had it not been for the lack of gun control in England before WWII, they would not have been able to arm themselves for defense after Dunkirk, where they abandoned their weapons. What are they going to do now? They are defenseless.
Oh, you insist on greater ‘chance’ of violence? So what the heck does that mean and where are the stats for that opinion.
It is a ridiculous statement and very untrue.
Oh, I forgot. You hum a little tra la la or disgorge a fat yawn when having to look at comparisons between countries and gun violence.
Professor, Idiots THAT KICKED YOUR COUNTRIES ASS!! But, not quite as badly as you beat your patients. I remember how you found this blog.
Too bad the reporter and the cameraman didn’t have an exit to escape out of.
The idiocy of the 2nd Amendment haters is they also hate cops and the military, but are apparently just fine w/ them being the only people w/ firearms.
Paul Schulte: You have the second amendment because this amendment was written by idiots.
As you know from my history lessons, George III was no despot and no politician with no power.
You need an ability to think to understand this.
ninian – calling the Founding Fathers idiots means you fail the US Civics test.
pin, I guess no one listens to flight attendants telling people to know how to exit.
Of course if you are a black man I don’t recommend packing heat at Walmart. In that case, you might get killed by the cops.
And if you run out of bullets, you can always buy more. Gun people love Walmart.
pin, ANY safety expert would ENCOURAGE people to always know how to exit when in a confined space w/ many people.
It would be “RAAACIST” to have denied this coward a gun.
Quite untrue about greater gun violence in the UK than in the States.
Nice. Except that isn’t what Karen said. Try re reading for comprehension this time.
And….. I own several guns. Guns are tools and are useful for the purpose needed. Shotguns for wild fowl hunting. Other shotgun for home protection and up close predators. Rifles of various calibers for game and varmint hunting. Hand gun with snake loads for…..duh….snakes and other hand gun loads for again household protection or when we are driving in the wilderness.
Despite all these guns, no one has been shot in my house, on my property (other than the above mentioned snakes, varmints and small predators. The guns are in gun safes when we are not hunting or using them….. and stored in areas where children have no access. Although we were broken into a few weeks ago in our business workshop, so now the Mossberg 12 gauge pump is right by the door so that if we do hear an intruder at night, they can hear the ka chunk of the shell being jacked into the chamber. Howdy 🙂
I also have knives, sling shots, air/pellet rifles and archery equipment (bows and arrows which are actually as lethal and much more silent than the guns.)
I pity people who are afraid of inanimate items. The garbage disposal probably scares you too.
Should mentally ill people be forbidden from guns? I certainly think so. Are we also going to forbid them from cars, knives, and other pointy objects. We let them wander around, crap in the streets, sleep on your porches and spread disease to preserve their freedom. Maybe we just go back to locking them up……for their own safety……right?
Who gets to be the dictator of who gets to be free and who gets to keep their rights? How are you going to define mental illness? Welcome to Communist China or Russia where wrong think will put you in jail. http://jonathanturley.org/2015/08/26/russians-sentence-ukrainian-filmmaker-to-20-years-despite-recantation-by-main-witness-and-allegations-of-torture/
The issue is that because there are SOME deranged and ill people, that does not mean that the rest of us should have our rights, of ANY kind, curtailed or abrogated.
The Second Amendment was crafted to protect US against a dictatorial government.
If YOU don’t want a gun. Fine. If you want to declare your home a gun free zone. Have at it. You have no right to intrude into the lives of law abiding and responsible gun owners.
DBQ
None of my guns have killed a single person. Do you think they could be defective?
Oh yes! Absolutely always pack heat at Walmart!
Annie+DoubleH
There was a case where a black guy with a conceal carry permit was tackled by a white guy while going into Wal Mart.
The white guy either saw the black guy printing or saw the gun when he bent over into his car.
White guy thought he was being a hero but he ended up arrested. I think he finally hit bottom with his hoplophobia.
I’m not sure if this happened on a friday.
All Walmart shoppers should be packin’ heat…..especially on Black Friday. Don’t leave home without it.
Karen:
You need to remove your head from its current location and look at what is happening to your country. Then you might stop talking nonsense.
The guy was an angry, paranoid nut. Obviously a fit candidate for a gun.
From the station GM:
“Eventually after many incidents of his anger … we dismissed him,” Marks said. “He did not take that well.”