Washington: In a shocking incident, two journalists for a local CBS affiliate in Virginia were shot dead on Wednesday in a chilling live television broadcast by a man who once worked for the station and apparently filmed the incident before shooting himself.
WDBJ7 journalist Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were shot at close range while conducting an on-air interview. Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe said the gunman was a disgruntled former employee of the television station.
He was identified as Vester Flanagan, 41, according to a dispatcher for the Augusta County Sheriff’s Department. Stills pulled from Ward’s camera helped identify him.
Parker was talking to Vicki Gardner, head of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce, on a balcony at the lakeside Bridgewater Resort in the town of Moneta near Roanoke when the attack occurred.
The shooter’s hand is clearly visible. He appears to be wearing a blue checkered shirt. None of the victims are seen wounded. There is no blood in the footage. Flanagan shot himself as Virginia State Police were closing in on a rental car on Interstate 66 in Fauquier County, WDBJ7 said.
“Minutes later, the suspect’s vehicle ran off the road and crashed. The troopers approached the vehicle and found the male driver suffering from a gunshot wound,” police said in a statement. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he died, police said.
The killings once again highlighted fears about gun violence in America, and a quick call for action from the White House. It breaks my heart every time you read or hear about these kinds of incidents,” president Barack Obama told ABC America.
What we know is that the number of people who die from gun-related incidents around this country dwarfs any deaths that happen through terrorism.”
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she was “heartbroken and angry”, and promised to “take it on”. We have got to do something about gun violence in America,” she said. I will take it on. There are many people who face it and know it but then turn away because it’s hard.”
Bureau Report
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