Bryce Williams Video,
Bryce Williams Shoots Reporter and Cameraman on live TV,
Bryce Williams Shooting,
Bryce Williams Video captures Vester Flanagan, also known as Bryce Williams, shooting two WDBJ employees, Alison Parker and Adam Ward.
Murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward
On the morning of August 26, 2015, news reporter Alison Parker and photojournalist Adam Ward, both employees of CBS affiliate WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia, United States, were fatally shot while conducting a live television interview near Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta. They were interviewing Vicki Gardner, executive director of the local chamber of commerce, when all three were attacked by a gunman. Parker, age 24, and Ward, age 27, died at the scene, while Gardner survived.[5]
Bryce Williams Wikipedia
The gunman was 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan II, a former reporter at WDBJ who had been fired in 2013 for disruptive conduct.[6] After a five-hour manhunt, Flanagan shot himself during a car chase with police officers and died later at a hospital.[7][8][9]
Bryce Williams fatally shot a reporter and her cameraman on live television, according to their news station. Alison Parker, 24, and Adam Ward, 27, were killed in the field during a live news segment 26 August 2015 in Moneta, Virginia, according to their station, WDBJ-TV, a CBS affiliate serving the Roanoke-Lynchburg television market. A third person was injured in the shooting, sources familiar with the situation said. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe described the unnamed alleged gunman in a radio interview as a disgruntled employee of the station, adding that an arrest is “imminent.” The incident was reported at 6:45 a.m. and the Franklin County sheriff confirmed that it is considered an active-shooter situation, adding that the suspect is believed to be male. Franklin County school officials said three schools are on lockdown in the area of the shooting and that police officers are offering additional security.
Bryce Williams Shooting and motives
Flanagan maintained accounts on Facebook and Twitter that were suspended after he was named as a suspect in the shooting. He repeated his claims of racial discrimination by WDBJ on both profiles, specifically naming Parker and Ward. He claimed that Parker had made a coded racist remark during her internship at WDBJ regarding a friend of Flanagan’s, and that Ward had filed a complaint against him to the station’s human resources department after working with him on one occasion.[46]
At 11:14 a.m. on the day of the shooting, Flanagan uploaded a 56-second phone camera video to his Twitter and Facebook accounts before they were suspended, shot from a first-person perspective of the incident.[47] The video shows Flanagan walking up to the scene of the interview and brandishing a handgun for approximately 15 seconds without Ward, Parker, or Gardner noticing; Gardner later said that she had been blinded by the television lighting.[48] Flanagan mutters “bitch” while pointing the weapon at Parker, and lowers the gun before raising it again and opening fire directly at her. Parker flinches and screams before attempting to escape the attack, and the light of Ward’s camera is seen quickly dropping before Flanagan pulls away the camera and shuts it off.[49][50]
ABC News received a 23 page fax at 8:26 a.m. allegedly sent by Flanagan[51] entitled, “Suicide Note for Friend & Family”. In the document, Flanagan described his grievances over what he alleged to be racial discrimination and sexual harassment committed by black men and white women in his workplace, believing that he was targeted because he was a homosexual black man.[8][17][52] He claimed to have been provoked by the Charleston church shooting, two months before, and made threatening comments about Dylann Roof, the perpetrator of that crime.[49] Flanagan described the church shooting as a “tipping point”, saying that his anger had been “building steadily” and describing himself as “a human powder keg … just waiting to go BOOM”.[8] A spokesman for the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said that Flanagan “very closely identified” with “individuals who have committed domestic acts of violence and mass murder, as well as the September 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S.”[53] Flanagan said that Jehovah had told him to act and expressed an admiration for Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who perpetrated the 1999 Columbine High School massacre; and Seung-Hui Cho, the perpetrator of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting.[17][54] Flanagan said in the note, “Yeah I’m all fucked up in the head.”[55]
After Flanagan’s death, officers searched his rental car. They found various items, including a Glock pistol with several magazines and ammunition, a cell phone, letters, notes, a “to-do” list, a suitcase containing three license plates, and several disguises, including a wig.[40][56]