Virginia Shooter Had Ties to San Diego Newsman

By GREG HAMBRICK (Patch Staff)

A gunman who opened fire on a television reporter and her cameraman outside Roanoke, Va., killing them during a live interview, has died. State Police said he crashed his car during a chase and was found with a gunshot wound when troopers got to his car.

He was airlifted to a hospital where he later died.

The shooter has been identified as Vester Lee Flanagan, according to the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office. Flanagan was a former employee with WDBJ, in Roanoke, VA. He reported under the name Bryce Williams.

The victims have been identified as Alison Parker, 24, and Adam Ward, 27.

Ward was the cameraman during a live segment for the morning broadcast regarding tourism at Bridgewater Plaza at Smith Mountain Lake. Parker was interviewing a business leader, who was wounded in the attack.

Facebook and Twitter accounts attributed to Bryce Williams showed the shootings from the point of view of the shooter. The accounts, which were quickly suspended Wednesday morning, also included statements critical of the victims.

ABC News reportedly received a faxed 23-page document allegedly from Bryce Williams following the shootings. The news outlet reported that it had turned the document over to authorities.

Vicki Gardner, head of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce, was shot in the back during the shooting and is in surgery, according to the Roanoke Times.

A video of the broadcast shows the reporter interviewing Gardner when gunshots are heard. The camera falls to the ground and cries are heard. Patch has chosen not to post that video.

San Diego Connection

San Diego 6 News Director Don Shafer hired, and later fired the suspected gunman when he worked in Tallahassee, Florida. At the time, the gunman went by his own name, Vester Flanagan. He was hired in 1999 and fired the following year.

During on on-air interview this morning, Shafer said that Flanagan was good at his job “and then things started getting a little strange with him.” Flanagan was let go because of “bizarre behavior and fighting with other employees. He threatened to punch people out and he was running fairly rough-shod over other folks.”

“He was pretty difficult to work with.”

Shafer is horrified by the killings. “This is one of the things that keeps the news director awake at night is fear for your reporters. What could happen to them.” Shafer noted that some television stations, notably in San Francisco where a TV station employee was recently pistol-whipped during a robbery, have now hired armed guards to go on live shot with their crews.

San Francisco Bay Area Native

Flanagan was originally from Vallejo and worked for KPIX in San Francisco, the station reported. According to KPIX, he worked there from 1993 to 1995 as an intern, production assistant and writer.

According to Flanagan’s LinkedIn profile, he graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in broadcast journalism.

--Patch editors Bea Karnes and Alex Nguyen contributed to this report