Washington: In yet another incident that brings to light America's problem with guns and racial tension, two television journalists were shot to death by a co-worker during a live broadcast from a strip mall in a small Virginia town. Journalists Alison Parker, 24 and Adam Ward, 27, both from CBS affiliate WDBJ7 in Roanoke, were covering a story of Bridgewater Plaza, when they were ambushed by an African American gunman.
Parker was interviewing Vicki Gardner, head of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce, who was also shot in the back but survived and underwent a surgery. On live television footage, one could hear Parker crashing to the floor screaming as eight shots ring out. There was a brief glimpse from the falling camera of the gunman, who then fled the scene. The station quickly cuts the feed to a horrified, wide-eyed anchor in the studio. The gunman, later identified as Vester Flanagan alias Bryce Williams, was a disgruntled employee of the station and shot himself in the course of a highway police chase.
Flanagan managed to post on social media, a clip of the shooting from his perspective and a couple of messages of his racial issues with Parker and Ward. He alleged Alison of making racist comments at him and that he had complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
WDBJ7 later tweeted a message including a photo of the two, “We love you, Alison and Adam.” “I cannot tell you how much they were loved, Alison and Adam, by the WDBJ7 team,” the station's general manager Jeff Marks said. “Our hearts are broken and our sympathies go to the entire staff here, but also the parents and family of Adam Ward and Alison Parker, who were just out doing their job today.”
