Murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward
On August 26, 2015, 24-year-old news reporter Alison Parker and 27-year-old photojournalist Adam Ward, both of Roanoke, Virginia, CBS affiliate WDBJ, were conducting a live television interview near Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta, Virginia, when they were murdered by a gunman.[3] The person they were interviewing, Vicki Gardner of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce,[1] was shot in the back during the attack but survived. Parker and Ward died at the scene. They are the seventh and eighth journalists to be killed while in the line of work in the U.S. since 1992.[4]
| Murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward | |
|---|---|
| Location | Bridgewater Plaza Moneta, Virginia, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 37°08′36″N 79°40′13″W / 37.143304°N 79.670275°W |
| Date | August 26, 2015 Shooting: 6:46 a.m. Manhunt 6:46 a.m. – c. 11:30 a.m. (EDT) |
| Target | Alison Parker and Adam Ward |
Attack type | Murder–suicide |
| Weapons | Glock pistol[1] |
| Deaths | 3 (including the perpetrator) |
Injured | 1 |
| Perpetrator | Vester Lee Flanagan II (aka Bryce Williams) |
| Motive | Perceived workplace animosity and supposed revenge for the Charleston church shooting[2] |
The attacker was later confirmed to be Vester Lee Flanagan II, also known as Bryce Williams, a former reporter at WDBJ who had been forced to leave the station two years prior.[5][6][7][8] After a manhunt and car chase, Flanagan shot himself and later died at a hospital.[9]
References
change- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cleary, Tom (August 26, 2015). "Vester Lee Flanagan: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
- ↑ McLaughlin, Eliott C.; Shoichet, Catherine E. (August 26, 2015). "Police: Bryce Williams fatally shoots self after killing journalists on air". CNN. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
- ↑ Web Staff (August 26, 2015). "Two WDBJ7 employees killed in attack at Bridgewater Plaza". Local News – WDBJ7.com Central and Southwest VA. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
- ↑ Berman, Mark (August 26, 2015). "Virginia journalists shot were the seventh and eighth killed in the U.S. since 1992". Washington Post. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
- ↑ McLaughlin, Eliott C. (August 26, 2015). "Virginia TV reporter, photographer killed in shooting during live interview". CNN. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
- ↑ Rogers, Katie; Blinder, Alan (August 26, 2015). "Virginia TV Reporter and Photographer Shot During Live Broadcast". The New York Times. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
- ↑ Worland, Justin (August 26, 2015). "Photographer and Reporter Killed During Live Broadcast". TIME. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
- ↑ Bacon, John (August 26, 2015). "Virginia reporter, photographer killed on live TV". USA Today. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
- ↑ Bacon, John (August 26, 2015). "Suspect in on-air murder of journalists kills himself". USA TODAY. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
