Posted on 08/26/2015 6:04:49 AM PDT by LSUfan
A gunman killed a reporter and videographer for a CBS affiliate in Virginia in a shooting that was broadcast live Wednesday morning.
Alison Parker and Adam Ward, a reporter and cameraman for CBS Roanoke affiliate WDBJ-TV, died in the shooting, Parker's mother confirmed to CBS News.
WDBJ-TV reports that deputies from Franklin County and Bedford County were on the scene.
The shooting happened at Bridgewater Plaza in Moneta, Virginia.
A good journalist would start contacting the names of those expressing sympathy. Might be able to get insight into why he turned out to be a homicidal POS.
Thankfully his mother didn’t have to go through this.
Reading the sympathy notes, she was highly regarded by those she taught.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/heres-what-we-know-about-the-virginia-tv-shooter
His LinkedIn account states that he began his career as a news intern in 1993, before working as a reporter and production assistant at various stations in the 1990s.
Between March 1999 and March 2000, he worked at WTWC-TV NBC 40 in Tallahassee, Florida.
In March of 2000, after losing his job, Flanagan filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against WTWC-TV for alleged racial discrimination. In the complaint, Flanagan said members of the station’s management called him “monkey,” suggested he had only been hired because of affirmative action, and asked him to “stop talking ebonics.”
The lawsuit was settled in January 2001 under unspecified terms.
Flanagan also said the station fired him after he threatened to contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to complain about the alleged discrimination, and asked for $15,000 in damages. The station’s general manager said an EEOC complaint was filed.
A spokesperson with the EEOC told BuzzFeed News the office could not confirm or deny that Flanagan had ever filed a report, due to Title VII confidentiality provisions.
“He had some conflicts with some people in the studio and in the control room,” San Diego 6 News Director Don Shafer, who was Flanagan’s former WTWC boss at the time of the suit, told BuzzFeed News.
Shafer said that Flanagan had a number of conflicts with people in the studio and in the control room, which eventually resulted in his firing. “But they were certainly nothing like pulling a gun on anyone or anything,” he said, adding that the conflicts were never race related.
“I wasn’t surprised that he sued us,” Shafer said. “He was just looking to get something out of being terminated, but there was nothing to his claims.”
“He was a pretty good reporter though,” Shafter said. “Good enough that I made him a weekend evening anchor.”
Greg Sextro, a TV producer who worked with Flanagan in Florida and stayed in touch with him for a few years, remembered him as a “goofy,” “nice guy” who was constantly reprimanded by superiors for the quality of his reporting.
“He was not a good reporter,” Sextro told BuzzFeed News. “They would take his writing and rip it up.”
Sextro also said he never witnessed any racial discrimination against Flanagan.
“He made that crap up,” Sextro said of Flanagan’s claims that his bosses called him racial slurs.
Other people who worked with Flanagan in Florida echoed Sextro’s statements.
“He seemed like a fairly nice guy when we hired him,” Kevin Christopher, who worked as the main anchor for the station, told BuzzFeed News. “He was a nice-looking young man, and he was fairly well-spoken. But he was not the greatest employee in the world. He just wasn’t getting the work done, and he always thought it was someone else’s fault.”
Christopher also said Flanagan was fired from WTWC-TV because of his poor performance, and that his discrimination lawsuit was “frivolous and without merit.”
the main anchor for the station, told BuzzFeed News.....
“He was a nice-looking young man, and he was fairly well-spoken. But he was not the greatest employee in the world. He just wasn’t getting the work done, and he always thought it was someone else’s fault.”
Are those the devices on the back of the troopers/sheriff vehicles that sit up on the trunk?
Or are they talking actual humans seeing it and calling it in?
I wondered if those were for that purpose.
Hmm.
CNN INTERVIEW - can’t believe I am watching CNN
Interviewed former employer (black btw) Lorel Reynolds (sp?)
Was in tears as he talked. Spoke about the victims—then about the perp.
Lorel: “He was not the best co-worker. He was very aggressive with people and he couldn’t take criticism. He took it personally.
And at the station, he threw a huge tantrum that caused a lot of our co-workers to fear our own safety.
Like we were in a lockdown the day he was fired And a few days later we had police detail that king of watched over the station bec we didn’t know the extent og, I guess, his mental illness.
Interviewer:...When you say a tantrum, be specific.
Lorel: I wasn’t there, but when I came in a few hours later after the tantrum, and what I-—the aftermath of the tantrum was there was newsroom desks, computer monitors were on the ground. People were shaken and in tears because they experienced something so horrific at that time.
Police officers were there in our building, watching over us.
Interviewer:
Lorel: I left a few months after he was fired, so I don’t have any perspective of how his name is still in the newsroom [i.e., how he was regarded]. What I do know is that he filed a lawsuit aga the company and that lawsuit [did not go in his favor].....
He felt that his firing was racially motivated.
Interviewer: ...Did he ever talk to you about anything racially motivated?
Lorel: You know, I just thought about this. He did kind of approach me one day, and he was-—kind of like-—us, we need to stick together. He insinuated that the black people and the company needs to watch out for one another.
So he always had that racial awareness and the company-—even though it did not exist to my knowledge and my experience of how the company was.
Interviewer winds up interview with a question about the victims
I’ll never forget the reporter that referred to a Ruger 10-22 (type rifle 11yearold boys get for Christmas) as a “AR type assault rifle”.
Maybe because it was all black...
Yes it is.
Must be... Yep.
Tantrum? He should have been arrested!
It wasn’t. That’s why it was deleted.
Dang how could he have just walked up on them and stood tjere and they didn’t notice?
Having been in those situations, I can understand. When you are in an interview situation, particularly a live interview that you know is being broadcast, you become extremely focused and oblivious to what is going on around you.
- The person being interviewed is focused on the interviewer.
- The person doing the interview is focused on the interviewee.
- The cameraman is focused on both and praying that he doesn't screw it up.
It would be very easy for somebody to walk around them and stand in that particular position (out of their line of sight) for a period of time without being noticed. Even with a gun drawn.
BTW, that first POV video completely creeped me out and I'm not easily spooked.
Yes, he died about 1:30 pm EST.-
He died in standard time?
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