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
http://www.shiplerreport.blogspot.com/2012/12/guns-working-around-the-second-amendment
Again, 64% of gun deaths in the US are from suicide. This coward, gay, black man who continually played the race card and wore an Obama button while reporting on the election should have just killed himself first. He got it backwards.
Nick – he was responsible for 3 deaths, so he has added to the statistics. However, you have to have at least 3 victims to be a serial killer. How many do you need to be a mass murderer? I am sure he did not make the cut.
Great article on gun regulation:
http://www.shiplerreport.blogspot.com/2012/12/guns-working-around-second-amendment
And this is what is wrong with America…. In a nutshell.
Ah yes, the demonization of the victim’s father has begun, just as I predicted.
John Walsh certainly did cash in big time on the death of his son. Hopefully this poor woman’s dad can hit the jackpot as well. Biden is about to as well.
Any debate should try to separate “Voter issues vs. Court issues”.
Voters can only operate within the boundaries of the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Constitution – which still allows plenty of room for gun regulation. Maybe the best article written on this was by David K. Shipler in 2012 “Working Around the Second Amendment”.
What’s interesting today is many pro-gun rights groups still don’t want African-Americans to own guns. Many states, like Florida, enforce “Stand Your Ground” laws only for white gun owners. African-American gunowners that have used the very same law were criminally prosecuted and served prison time. Great movie to watch is the “Deacons for Defense” that was remade a few years ago, it was about African-American gun owners protecting themselves from police in Louisiana that belonged to the klan.
“Many states, like Florida, enforce “Stand Your Ground” laws only for white gun owners” That’s demonstrably false. The Tampa Times did a study of the use of stand your ground defenses. Turns out it is successfully used more often in defending blacks who killed whites. Efforts to eliminate stand your ground, at least in Florida, really amount to keeping ol’ darkie in his place by eliminating one of the few effective legal tools blacks have in protecting themselves against whites. On the other hand, the most famous case being used against stand your ground, George Zimmerman, *didn’t* use it (something those opposing stand your ground fail to mention).
Alison Parker’s father said on CNN that he “wants to be the John Walsh of gun control” and that “politicians are owned by the NRA”. How dare he make his daughter’s senseless death be political…I can just hear it coming.
This is the same script, the same pathetic crises actors who cannot even FEIGN grief, who skip every step of the grieving process from day one, and go immediately to stumping for gun control, media control, people control, government expansion, internet control, free speech control, etc. etc. The same “He/she was the most loving giving wonderful human being on the planet and we forgive the murderers as they would want!” Notice the Labrador retrievers, kittens, butterflies and other props you’ll learn to recognize.Can you not see it?????? Pay attention. Question everything. The media is not your friend. How many times must be proven before people wake up??? They have you/us hating those who would tell us the truth and loving those who lie and exploit us. And why not, when people are so gullible and unable to think for themselves?
Because of Illiminati mind control.
pin, Witnessed by the late night rantings from jr., I think liberal heads are exploding on this one.
Nick
I’ve noticed there’s no anti-gun counterpart to Operation Rescue.
I wonder why?
A “jr.” in every sense of the word.
p.s. OMG! nicky, darlin’, “agita”? (ăj′ĭ-tə, ä′jĭ-) n. Acid indigestion. [American pronunciation spelling (perhaps using t to represent the pronunciation of d as an alveolar flap, or influenced by agitate) of a southern Italian dialectal variant of Italian acido, acid, from Latin acidus, sour; see acid.] American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2011
http://www.word-detective.com/121800.html – “Agita” is not a standard Italian word, and linguists are not certain where came from. One possible source is the Italian word “agitare” (“to agitate” or “to trouble”),…
instead of plain ole ‘mercan slang “panic attack”, couldn’t we at least have “attacchi di panico”? LOL!
sometimes these rants, raves, insults, insinuations, undercurrents of tv series, etc ad nauseum just indicate that if anyone in the USA (or maybe just us on prof turley’s blog) had a real, true, private investigator background check, nobody could be found sane enough to tote firearms. how about we outlaw stupid people? that would obviate necessity of arguing whether we need more than 15 rounds in a clip as our colorado gun-slingers insist. not me, the slingers. our theater mass murder could’ve claimed 2 or 3 dozen kills while the rest of us fumbled for sidearms in our bags and hit the floor. then we could shoot one another in the crossfire trying to wing the madman. that’s what we needed, sure it is. and if all our children at columbine had a .38 in their backpacks, maybe one of them could’ve shot back before the trenchcoat boys finished their hunt then shot themselves. really? a traffic cop signals me over but looks to me like a hell’s angel armed to the teeth – ya think i’m living large and free after i level my thompson center 9mm at him thru my window? my weapon kept my fragile, girly self safe? i don’t think so, i think i’m deceased. but i defended my 2nd amendment rights, by god/dess. perhaps the only cure for a rude, crude, violent, dull-witted, angry, self-involved populace hellbent on “shooting the other guy before he can shoot me” is an increase in respectful civility, and a national rise in IQ. any suggestions for either of those deficiencies?
it was a tragic, unnecessary albeit perfect storm brewed up by multiple acts of idiocy and therefore unstoppable by the time it exploded. regardless how many ak-47s or glocks or hand grenades the 3 victims possessed, they would not have been in vietnam belly-crawl jungle disguise formation, ready for war, because they were busy doing their jobs! so put your arsenal under your pillow at night. see if you’re prepared when the lifelong chemical-head burglar/rapist/murderer slinks in and is on top of you, his .45 between your eyes before you can open them. i can tell you firsthand, you won’t be ready.
annie, i love reading you. you’ve never made me want to throw crockery at the door. you convey logic, wisdom and compassion. missy dust buggy, however, could tra-la-la back to 4th grade and stay there. this topic is not glib nor silly. most of you gentlemen keep me so confused with your adhd i despair of thoughtful discourse from you. not all, i said “most.” so there it is: all of my own cynicism, arrogance, despair, testosterone wrath rage, advice and disgust vented in 3 paragraphs and without my s&w. i feel much better.
When guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns. Outlaws and the Gestapo. And the Redcoats.
http://www.targetofopportunity.com/comparative_socialism.jpg
https://myliteraryquest.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/xenophobia.jpg
*But*. I’ve heard a couple of xenophobic ranters tell Issac to go back to where he came from in the last few days. Do you people know how ignorant you sound?
Annie
I don’t care much for Scientologists.
Feel free to accuse me of Xenuphobia.
If Issac is a citizen, this country is as much his as any other citizen and the First Amendment applies to him equally. He could make an ass out of himself and tell you to go back to Denmark or Norway or wherever your people are from originally, bug I doubt he’d be so crass.
Isaac,
How many of the people you fear are actually shooting up schools, churches and innocent reporters? What’s the psych analysis on these mass murderers? Take your crazy talk to Chicago or Baltimore or Ferguson and try walking those streets. Take your pathetic, “I don’t have any natural rights”, whiny ass right back to Canada because your ignorance is not welcome in my country. Go to bed behind your triple locked doors and your Hello Kitty night light and the rest of us NRA loving 2nd amendment defenders will be living in their secure, open-carry communities where they don’t have to fear for their children’s safety when they play outside.
Paul, Great show. I’ll miss Raylan this year. We’re watching a series we missed when it was out. Six Feet Under is great! Watched 8 episodes to date.
Nick – I am going to miss Boyd Crowder and Wynn Duffy. I have grown fond of them. 😉
If you took away the conspiracy, taking over the government, repelling UN invasion forces, etc. people, it wouldn’t be anywhere as scary as it is now. It seems that given the string of mass murders it’s those perched on the edge, armed to the teeth that we have to worry about. The strongest proponents for unfettered gun ownership are the most dangerous.