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BREAKING: WDBJ Reporter and Photog shot and killed.


alex979

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Thoughts, prayers and positive vibes being sent to all affected.

 

I know I could go on my anti gun rants, and as much as I want to, I will remain silent.

 

Life is precious. We are never guaranteed tomorrow. This is America. 2015. We are better than this.

 

-- Matt

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Frightening doesn't begin to describe the video, and the more shocking thought, anyone watching WDBJ on-air or online could see it as it happened. Apparently, Vester Flanagan can briefly be seen holding and firing the gun as the camera Adam Ward was holding hit the ground.

 

Vicki Gardner, the director of the Moneta Chamber of Commerce (whom Parker was interviewing shortly before the shooting happened), was hospitalized after being shot in the back and is in surgery.

 

It's been reported by multiple sources, although it's unconfirmed, Flanagan may have shot himself on U.S. 66, near Front Royal, Virginia.

http://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2015/08/26/reports-shots-disrupt-wdbj-live-shot/32389087/

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Very sad. My thoughts are are with all of their families.

 

NBC just broke in at noon reporting of the shooting and suspects death. I was surprised that the AM newscasts that I watched Today and CBS This Morning made no mention of the shooting.

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I can't even look. CNN in its 12pm ET hour so far has been running WDBJ live. This is just... way too sad. The suspect is also still alive, according to most recent reports.

 

I am relieved to hear that other Schurz stations are doing something to offer relief to WDBJ employees. (That said, KWCH is not the closest station to WDBJ and I would have thought they would come from WSBT.)

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For the sake of Parker and Ward's families, friends and significant others, he needs to survive so that he gets put on trial for what is murder in the first degree, which carries a life sentence in prison or the death penalty (which Virginia allows).

 

Former Fox News correspondent Orlando Salinas, who worked with him when they were both at WDBJ, stated that Flanagan often complained about racial discrimination at the station (he even filed a lawsuit against a station in Tallahassee he worked at in 2000, on those grounds). According to a TVSpy report, Salinas said that Flanagan caused a “ruckus” on the day he left WDBJ in February 2013, berating people in the newsroom. Management had to move employees to another room in the station's offices for their protection, and police were called in and had him escorted from the studio. Considering his targets, that incident could be a possible cause for the shooting.

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https://scontent-cdg2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/11889661_10156048223605171_3723064752088572701_n.jpg?oh=1da480340d0312f55439e5ca0885b788&oe=567C41D4

 

Caption of the photo:

 

Todd Schurz, president and CEO of Schurz Communications, issued the following statement regarding the shooting that took the lives of two WDBJ7 employees today:

 

"We are heartbroken at the tragic and senseless loss of reporter Alison Parker and photographer Adam Ward. At the time of their murders, they were involved in the most important aspect of journalism--telling the stories important to their local communities. Our focus now is to comfort their families and loved ones and to assist law enforcement in their investigation."

 

Both WSBT 22 and WDBJ7 are properties of Schurz Communications.

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WDBJ GM Jeffrey Marks on the shooting suspect: "I'm not really sure whether I want him to live or die."

I'm not sure if I wanted that thought either.

But if he died, at least he wouldn't strike the station again,

And if he still lived, I'd want him to die in jail or get the death penalty. Then I'd feel there's some closure.

I just want him to suffer horribly for this.

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Some of my family members live in the Roanoke area, and I was hoping they would be safe (they live in a remote suburb, next door to WDBJ's Robin Reed, as a matter of fact). I learned via WCBS 880- they've broadcasted CBS News Special Reports throughout the morning.

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