A disgruntled former employee of a local TV station in the US state of Virginia shot and killed a reporter and cameraman live on air and posting videos of the killings online.
Vester Lee Flanagan (41), who worked under the name Bryce Williams, filmed himself shooting reporter Alison Parker (24), and cameraman Adam Ward (27), while they interviewed a local chamber of commerce executive, Vicki Gardner.
Williams later shot himself while being pursued by police, and later died.
We love you, Alison and Adam. pic.twitter.com/hLSzQi06XE
— WDBJ7 (@WDBJ7) August 26, 2015Videographer Adam Ward managed to get a shot of the gunman who killed him and @AParkerWDBJ7 pic.twitter.com/o8QOdtAxEV
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) August 26, 2015The two journalists were broadcasting the live report for WDBJ7, a station based in Roanoke, about 400 kilometres southwest of Washington, DC, affiliated with the national network CBS.
Ms Gardner was shot in the back in the shootings which took place at about 6.45am (11.45am Irish time). An official at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital said that she was “in a stable condition”.
Video footage
Police later found Williams in a critical condition after he shot himself in a car in Fauquier County, about 320 kilometres northeast of the scene of the shootings.
Video footage of Parker’s live report shows her interviewing Ms Gardner when several shots ring out. The live on-air footage cuts away to a shocked television anchor back at the studio.
Ward’s camera, as it fell to the ground, captured a brief glimpse of a man directing a hand gun at the mortally wounded cameraman.
The story took a bizarre twist in the hours after the attack when Williams posted execution-style videos on social media websites Facebook and Twitter of him appearing to carry out the shootings. He tweeted: “I filmed the shootings see Facebook.” The companies later suspended the online accounts.
Video footage shows Parker oblivious to the handgun being pointed just inches away from her face while carrying out her interview.
In the hours after the shootings Williams posted messages online making accusations about his slain former colleagues.
‘Racist comments’
“Alison made racist comments,” he wrote in one post. “Adam went to HR on me after working with me one time!!!” he said in another.
Originally from California, Williams worked at the television station until February 2013 when he left following a dispute with the station during which he had made complaints against his colleagues.
Williams faxed a 23-page document to ABC News the night before the shooting which the news channel handed over to police.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest renewed president Barack Obama’s call on the US Congress to introduce tougher gun laws.
He described the shootings as “another example of gun violence that is becoming all too common”.
