Va. reporter, photographer killed on-air during live news interview

Fox News

A Roanoke-based WDBJ reporter and photographer were shot and killed Wednesday morning during an on-air during a live interview. A third person was shot and injured.

The crew, reporter 24-year-old Alison Parker and 27-year-old photographer Adam Ward, was filming during a live television report at Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta, Virginia. The shooting happened at about 6:45 a.m.

The alleged shooter, 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan of Roanoke, has reportedly shot himself but is still alive in critical condition. Previously, state police said Flanigan was dead. He shot himself after authorities confronted him on Interstate 66 in Virginia. He was flown to a hospital where he died at about 1:30 p.m.

Flanagan is a former disgruntled employee of the television station where Parker and Ward worked. He worked as a reporter at WDBJ where he went by the on-air name of Bryce Williams. He has worked as a reporter at a number of stations throughout the South, including WNCT in Greenville, NC, WTWC in Tallahassee, and WTOC in Savannah.

During a live interview from Bridgewater Plaza, the gunman fired six to seven shots as Parker interviewed someone on screen. The camera then drops to the ground and the broadcast cuts back to the anchor desk. According to the Roanoke Times, Vicki Gardner, the subject of the interview, was shot in the back. She had surgery and is in stable condition. Gardner is head of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The video captures an image of the what’s believed to be Flanagan before it cuts away. Authorities from Bedford County, Franklin County and Virginia State Police responded to the scene.

Source: http://myfox8.com/2015/08/26/two-virginia-news-crew-members-shot-to-death-on-air-search-underway-for-shooter/