One of the videos shows the gunman approaching WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and photographer Adam Ward as Parker conducted a routine interview about a local story outside Moneta, Virginia. A woman the journalists were interviewing, Vicki Gardner, also was shot and is in stable condition after undergoing surgery.
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“Not hearing her voice again crushes my soul”.
Ward’s fiancée was in the control room and saw the shooting, WDBJ General Manager Jeff Marks told CNN.
It is believed that Williams faxed a 23-page document to ABC News in which he explains his reasons for the attack.
“Why did I do it?” I put down a deposit for a gun on 6/19/15. “The Church shooting in Charleston happened on 6/17/15…”, Flanagan wrote in the manifesto, according to ABC.
Another tweet says, “I filmed the shooting”. They show Flanagan alleging that he had been the victim of bullying and discrimination because he is gay and black.
In one part of the document, Williams calls it a “Suicide Note for Friends and Family”.
He also went on to describe sexual harassment and racism that he had experienced as a gay black man, saying that his anger had been building for some time. “I’ve been a human powder keg for a while. just waiting to go BOOM!!!!”, the fax reportedly said.
The 41-year-old Flanagan posted videos of the attack, and images, to his Facebook and Twitter pages while he was being pursued.
Though Marks has heard that Flanagan had leveled accusations in the past, he said, “I don’t think (reporter) Alison (Parker) and that individual even overlapped here”. “EEOC report filed”. “We do know the Franklin County sheriff… they are working very diligently to track down both the motive and the person responsible for this bad crime against two fine journalists”, he said during the station’s coverage of the shooting.
Flanagan, 26, said Thursday he was told on February 9 his employment contract will not be renewed after March 15.
The New York Daily News is reporting that Flanagan was a former model and “high-paid companion” before he became a reporter.
From 1993 to 2005, he worked at KPIX, San Francisco’s local CBS affiliate.
Flanagan titled his document “Open Letter to a Black Father from a Black Son”. Parker, he alleged, made “racist comments” that prompted him to make a complaint to the EEOC.
The case was ultimately settled, however, details of the terms are unavailable.
“Two years ago, we had to separate him from the company”.
A reporter and cameraman from WDBJ-TV were killed in the incident Wednesday morning. The Tallahassee Democrat published an article on the subject at the time of the lawsuit.
“WDBJ7 made me snap…they sure did. This is not right”. When Flanagan was ultimately escorted from the newsroom by police, he handed another staff member a wooden cross that was on his desk and said, “You’ll need this”, the memo says. ABC quoted the manifesto as saying.
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In July 2014, the lawsuit brought by Flanagan was dismissed by a judge. It showed an outstretched arm holding the handgun and firing repeatedly at Parker as she tried to run away. You can find live updates from the shooting investigation here.
