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
that would be: you might start by you learning his name.
Nick
If you demand we say his name, you might start by learning you learning his name.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/guns/procon/guns.html
How criminals get guns.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_shows_in_the_United_States
Nick.
I know. Life is so unfair. Stamp harder. Maybe we’ll find a picture of the killer with the confederate battle flag. Until then, you’ll just have to be satisfied that he was crazy, angry and a killer.
Oh yes.
He was gay and black. I bet you can make something of that.
But how about illegal immigrants who aren’t part of any drug cartel, just trying to make a living, do they have the unalienable right to defend themselves with the ownership of a gun? If one is a lover of the 2nd Amendment and a believer in natural rights, one must accept the implications. It’s not just the people you deem “worthy” can own a firearm. If they have committed no violent crime and are sane, it looks like the 2nd Amendment applies to them too. “Be careful of what you wish for, you may just get it.” The 2nd Amendment, the good, bad and ugly.
Inga – according to you, those illegal aliens have no reason to defend themselves. No more than I have to defend myself.
The racist, coward hater Dylan Roof kills black people and here is the drumbeat from liberals and MSM: CONFEDERATE FLAG, HATE, GUNS, CONFEDERATE FLAG, CONFEDERATE FLAG, guns, HATE, WHITE HATERS, CONFEDERATE FLAG , CONFEDERATE FLAG!!
The racist, coward, black gay, heterophobic, hater Vestel Flanagan kills white people and you hear is GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS!! NOTHING about the entitlement, record of racist comments and complaints, nothing about constantly playing the race card, nothing about Flanagan. Just GUNS GUNS GUNS!
I had a long conversation today w/ a good black friend. He despises and is humiliated by the people like Flanagan. What he had to say would not make it through wordpress. What my friend had to say about Flanagan was a visceral as what he had to say about Roof. You liberals are enabling hateful acts because of white guilt.
http://smartgunlaws.org/category/gun-studies-statistics/gun-violence-statistics/page/2/
Statistics on Gun Shows
Posted on Sunday, January 1st, 2012
A recent study comparing gun shows in California (a state that regulates gun shows and private firearm transfers) with gun shows in states with little to no such regulation found that at gun shows in states with less regulation, straw purchases were more common, armed attendees selling guns were more common, and vendors were more likely to sell assault weapons and 50 caliber rifles.1
A study by ATF found that 25% to 50% of gun show vendors are unlicensed.2
ATF reviewed over 1,500 of its investigations and concluded that gun shows are a “major trafficking channel,” associated with approximately 26,000 firearms diverted from legal to illegal commerce. Gun shows rank second to corrupt dealers as a source for illegally trafficked firearms.3
From 2004 – 2006, ATF conducted 202 investigative operations at 195 guns shows, or roughly 3% of the gun shows held nationwide during this period. These operations resulted in 121 arrests and the seizure of 5,345 firearms.4
For additional information about gun shows, including background information and state and local laws on the topic, see the Law Center’s Gun Shows Policy Summary.
Wintemute, Garen J., Gun Shows Across a Multistate American Gun Market: Observational Evidence of the Effects of Regulatory Policies, 13 Inj. Prevention 150, 154-155 (2007), at “http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/13/3/150. [↩]
U.S. Department of Justice & Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Gun Shows: Brady Checks and Crime Gun Traces 4 (Jan. 1999). [↩]
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Commerce in Firearms in the United States xi, 1, 12 (Feb. 2000). [↩]
Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice, The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Investigative Operations at Gun Shows i, iv-v (June 2007). [↩]
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So Paul wants to claim none of these guns were ever involved in gun violence or death, or robbery? Seriously? LOL.
Inga – you prove they might have been illegally purchased, you did not prove they were involved in murder.
I’d say he’s about $10,000 dollars short in this case.
Henry, Paul is often a dollar short and a day late in the facts department.
Inga – prove me wrong.
I already did Paul.
Another brilliant analysis….
Paul has personally researched all gun deaths over the past several years (how many is that, Paul? 10, 20, 30 thousand?) and has found that not one of those deaths were a result of a gun bought at a gun show. Amazing! Why I wasn’t aware that all those deaths had been successfully closed with a perp named and the gun identified and its purchase traced.
Truly amazing work!
HenryH – when you’re good, you’re good. What can I say. However, by several I meant 3 or 4
Slaves were human Paul, according to Natural Law Theory, they had unalienable rights. Ask Olly.
Inga – you know I do not believe in Natural Rights.
“Slaves were human Paul, according to Natural Law Theory, they had unalienable rights. Ask Olly.” That is exactly correct. The routine violation of those rights does not in any way negate their existence.
Olly, your natural rights law theory has unintended consequences. Don’t get mad at me, get mad at the force that created your natural rights. Besides, it’s dangerous in those “sanctuary cities”, why shouldn’t illegal immigrants get to defend themselves, don’t they too have the unalienable right to defend themselves? The 2nd Amendment says they do. You got caught in your own web.
Issac
And American ‘historians’ here so conveniently forget about the role the Russians played in WWII.
HenryH – during the late ’70s the History Book Club printed the Soviet version of WWII. There was no point at which they assisted the Germans. The Americans and British have no part in the war.
Gun ownership has surged in recent years yet the latest stats available confirm gun crimes have dropped 61% from 1992-2012.
Commie/Nazi lib gun grabbin Polecats, much of the media & their sheeple followers make a big deal over these senseless killings yet do not raise hell about the abortion murders & the sale of baby body parts or all the death, health problems caused by big pharma’s vaccine programs or the fact that 50% of the kids born in just 10 years will be born retarded caused by the vaccines, etc..
IE: Was this shooter brain damaged from vaccines?
http://www.prisonplanet.com/trump-the-problem-is-not-guns-it-is-mental-illness.html
Annie,
I’m not surprised that is the ‘ahem’ depth of your understanding. Using your logic, the Mexican drug cartels have a 2nd amendment right to carry firearms in this country.
“the Mexican drug cartels have a 2nd amendment right to carry firearms in this country.” They just don’t have the right to be in this country. That’s not a natural right.
issac – not sure where you got your info on John Wayne, it appears in none of his biographies or the biographies or autobiographies of those who worked with him. His film The Searchers probably did more to change attitudes toward Indians than any film before it.
So I take it unalienable rights are only endowed upon US citizens. Slaves weren’t citizens either, so they also had no unalienable rights, I suppose. Oh those unalienable rights, so tricky.
Inga – you are sharp as a tack today. Yes, slaves had no inalienable rights.
The shooter is said to be Gay, so it now makes sense to ban the Lesbian/Gay Flag just as the insane idiots are doing with the Stars & Bars Flag.
Odds are the lunatic shooter was on big pharma’s
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor aka SSRIs
Leave it to the progressives to fall into that trap. 🙂 The problem is not the 2nd amendment, but then your lack of critical thinking skills made that a certainty. The problem is we are extending constitutionally protected rights to people that have violated our immigration laws to get them. Again, that would have escaped you as well. You have effectively just endorsed the harboring of criminals in sanctuary cities and thus “own” responsibility for the crimes they continue to commit.
Your bleeding hearts continue to do harm to the most vulnerable among us.
Nicely done!