Posted on 08/26/2015 7:58:02 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
A news crew for a CBS affiliate in Virginia was gunned down during a live report near the Bedford County-Franklin County line in Moneta early Wednesday morning, law enforcement officials said.
Police and emergency services were on the scene, which remains active. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is also involved in the investigation.
WDBJ7 reporter Allison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were killed by an unidentified assailant who approached the pair as they were filming an interview at the Bridgewater Plaza and fired in their direction as many as eight times.
Footage of the shooting aired live during the channel’s morning news broadcast.
Vicki Gardner, the director of the local chamber of commerce who was being interviewed by the two journalists at the time of the shooting, was shot in the back and is in surgery, according to the Roanoke Times.
Reports from Virginia indicated police were in pursuit of a suspect, who was being chased in a car driving north on I-81.
Reports from WTOP and other outlets said that Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and state authorities believe the shooter may have been a disgruntled former employee of the station.
Screen shots from Ward's camera revealed images of the suspected gunman and were being widely circulated in the media.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
You’re a little late to the party Wife. 400 post thread already going
The news media have been repeating this story nonstop for the last 3 hours. The same small bits of information, over and over and over. Yes, its a tragedy. But I think they will be going on about this for days, relieved to have something to talk about besides Trump. Call me cynical.
Updating link:
10:55 a.m.
The Virginia TV station that saw two of its employees fatally shot during a live broadcast has identified a third person who was injured during the shooting.
WDBJ-TV says on its website that Vicki Gardner of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce was injured in incident Wednesday morning. She was being interviewed by reporter Alison Parker around 6:45 a.m. about tourism. Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were killed.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe has said the arrest of a suspect in the shooting is imminent. He says police are in pursuit of the suspect, believed to be a disgruntled employee of the station, on the highway.
10:00 AM
“....An anchor at the Virginia TV station that saw two of its employees fatally shot on air says he was in love with the reporter who died and that they wanted to get married.
Reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were killed in the Wednesday morning on-air shooting at a shopping center. Anchor Chris Hurst says in tweets that although the two didn’t share their relationship publicly, they were in love and had just moved in together.
Hurst tweeted: “We were together almost nine months. It was the best nine months of our lives. We wanted to get married. We just celebrated her 24th birthday.”
He also tweeted about the second victim, Ward, saying that Parker “worked with Adam every day. They were a team. I am heartbroken for his fiancee.”
Hurst described the TV station as a family, tweeting: “I am comforted by everyone at (at)WDBJ7.”
[SNIP]
I linked it.
It was getting a bit unwieldy.
Just giving an option.
Yup, just heard his full descrip - 6’3”, 250lbs., 42 years old. Black, bald head.
Anyone out there surprised, given the protest being covered?
Every link to the live shootin I can find in locked an unavailable
They have a suspect or person of interest they’re looking for.
They’re saying the shooter is an employee.
Or a boyfriend of the reporter...
Oh...my saying that was spectulation...sorry I misread what you wrote.
No the reporter and a station anchor had just moved in together.
RIP to the departed and condolences to the families but I smell false flag in the morning.
Just went and got an update on the story. When I read it at 9:30 this morning my first thought was ex-boyfriend or something like that.
Terrible tragedy and senseless act!
Shooter reported as Vester Flanagan, former reporter at the station.
When it’s one of their own, then it IS important, isn’t it?
UPDATE: The Augusta County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed they are seeking a man named Vester Lee Flanagan in relation to the shooting.
Flanagan previously worked for WDBJ under the name Bryce Williams.
He was hired at the station in the spring of 2012 after working at stations in San Francisco and in Florida, North Carolina, Texas and Georgia. WDBJ let him go in February 2013.
In May 2014, Flanagan filed suit against the station in Roanoke General District Court, seeking money he felt he was owed and additional damages. His suit alleged discrimination by the station and named most of the WDBJ staff in his complaint, but in July 2014, the case was dismissed by a judge.....................”
BLACK LIVES MATTER; WHITE LIVES DON’T.
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