Vester Lee Flanagan Filmed TV Attack, Committed Suicide After Broadcast
Former employee.
Vester Lee Flanagan filmed his murder of two journalists on live television and then broadcast it to the world; police at 11:37 a.m. said Flanagan committed suicide.
Flanagan is seen in the video walking up behind Alison Parker and Adam Ward on Wednesday morning. A pistol the enters the frame but the video stops before the first gunshot. A second video shows the rest of the shooting. (Twitter suspended his account.)
Flanagan went by Bryce Williams at WBDJ-TV in Roanoke, where Parker and Ward worked. Ward captured Flanagan on video as he fired at him, Parker, and Vicki Gardner of the local Chamber of Commerce.
In the tweets, Flanagan hinted at possible motives for the shooting. He tweeted about filing an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint and alleged that the reporter had made racist comments. “They hired her after that???” he tweeted. The slain producer, he claimed, complained to HR about him after working together one time. His final text tweet boasted about filming the attack.
ABC News said it recieved a 23-page fax from Flanagan and turned it over to authorities.
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