2015 WDBJ-TV On-Air Shooting

Submission 26,376

Warning: This entry contains video footage portraying graphic violence.

Overview

2015 WDBJ-TV On-Air Shooting refers to the shootings of news reporter Alison Parker, camera operator Adam Ward and Chamber of Commerce spokeswoman Vicki Gardner during a live interview broadcast on the Virginia CBS affiliate news station WEBJ in late August 2015. Following the attack, Parker and Ward died from gunshot wounds.

Background

On August 26th, 2015, news reporter Alison Parker and camera operator Adam Ward were interviewing Moneta Chamber of Commerce employee Vicki Gardner during a live broadcast on the CBS affiliate WDBJ near the Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta, Virginia. During the interview, former WDBJ reporter Vester Lee Flanagan II walked up to the group and began firing upon them, killing Parker and Ward while severely injuring Gardner.

Notable Developments

Perpetrator's Identity

While being pursued by police down a Virginia highway, Flanagan, who also went by the name Bryce Williams, posted tweets^[4] claiming Parker had made racist comments and questioned why she had been hired by the station (shown below).

Additionally, Flanagan posted a video recording of the shooting taken from his perspective.^[5] Two hours after the incident, a letter from Flanagan was received by ABC News, in which he confessed to the murders claiming he had been discriminated against for being a homosexual black man while citing the 2015 Charleston church and 2007 Virginia Tech shootings as inspirations.

"What sent me over the top was the church shooting. And my hollow point bullets have the victims' initials on them. Also, I was influenced by Seung–Hui Cho. That's my boy right there. He got NEARLY double the amount that Eric Harris and Dylann Klebold got…just sayin. As for Dylann Roof? You want a race war? BRING IT THEN"

Hours after the pursuit started, Flanagan drove off the road where he was discovered with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, later dying at a local hospital. According to The Daily Mail,^[3] WDBJ general manager Jeffrey Marks claimed Flanagan was "always looking out for people to say things he could take offense to" and had to be escorted by police out of the station after his employment was terminated in 2013.

Online Reaction

That day, YouTuber Vegetto991 uploaded a clip of the shooting (shown below). Shortly after, Redditor MBMinor1 submitted the footage to the /r/videos^[1] subreddit, where it reached the front page with more than 8,000 votes (96% upvoted) and 10,400 comments in less than seven hours.

Meanwhile, Redditor ComedianMikeB posted a photograph of Parker and Ward to the /r/pics^[2] subreddit, discouraging viewers from listening to reports about the gunman (shown below). Within six hours, the post gathered upwards of 6,200 votes (90% upvoted) and 6,000 comments.

Boyfriend's Reaction

That day, WDBJ reporter Chris Hurst posted a Facebook status update revealing that he and Parker were in love and had planned on getting married, along with several photographs of the two of them (shown below).