Fired reporter kills 2 former co-workers on live TV

MONETA, Va. - He planned it all so carefully - a choreographed execution of two former colleagues, broadcast live to a horrified television audience. Hours later, he shared his own recording of the killing worldwide on social media.

Vester Lee Flanagan's video shows him approaching WDBJ7 reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward, gun in hand, as they conduct an interview. He points the gun at Parker and then at Ward, but he waits patiently to shoot until he knows that Parker is on camera, so she will be gunned down on air.

TV viewers heard about the first eight of 15 shots. They saw Parker scream and run, and heard her crying "Oh my God!" as she fell. Ward fell, too, and the camera he had been holding on his shoulder captured a fleeting image of the suspect holding a handgun.

That man, authorities said, was Flanagan - a former staffer who used the on-air name of Bryce Williams and was fired by WDBJ7, a man who always was looking for reasons to take offense, colleagues recalled. He fled the scene but then posted his own 56-second video of the murders on Twitter and Facebook. He later ran off a highway while being pursued hundreds of miles away and was captured; he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The on-air murders reverberated far from central Virginia because that's just what the killer wanted - not just to avenge perceived wrongs, but to gain maximum exposure. He used his insider's knowledge of TV journalism against his victims - a 24-year-old reporter who was a rising star and a 27-year-old cameraman engaged to a producer who watched the slaughter live from the control room.

The planning may have started weeks ago when, ABC News said, a man claiming to be Williams called repeatedly, saying he wanted to pitch a story and needed fax information. He sent ABC's newsroom a 23-page fax two hours after the 6:45 a.m. shooting that was part-manifesto, part-suicide note - calling himself a gay black man who had been mistreated by people of all races, and saying he bought the gun two days after nine black people were killed in a June 17 shooting at a Charleston, S.C., church. The fax also included admiration for the gunmen in killings at places like Virginia Tech and Columbine High School.

He described himself as a "human powder keg" that was "just waiting to go BOOM!!!!"

Parker and Ward were a regular team, providing stories for the station's Mornin' show. Their live spot Wednesday was nothing out of the ordinary: They were interviewing a local official at a shopping mall for a tourism story before the shots rang out.

As Parker screamed and Ward collapsed, Ward's camera kept rolling, capturing the image of the suspect pointing the gun. WDBJ7 switched to the anchor back at the station, clearly shocked, who told viewers, "OK, not sure what happened there."

Parker and Ward died at the scene. Their interview subject, Vicki Gardner, also was shot but emerged from surgery in stable condition.

Flanagan, 41, who was fired from WDBJ7 in 2013, was described by the station's president and general manager, Jeffrey Marks, as "difficult to work with" and always "looking out for people to say things he could take offense to."

"Eventually after many incidents of his anger coming to the fore, we dismissed him. He did not take that well," Marks said. He recalled that police had to escort him out of the building because he refused to leave when he was fired.

Tweets posted Wednesday on the gunman's Twitter account - since suspended - described workplace conflicts with both victims. He said that he filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Parker and that Ward had reported him to human resources.

Both Parker and Ward grew up in the Roanoke area and later interned at the station.