The Latest: Official: Suspect in on-air fatal shooting dies
By Associated Press
Aug 26, 2015 1:16 PM CDT
Virginia State Police Sgt. R.C. Garletts speaks to the media after two journalists were fatally shot while broadcasting live from Bridgewater Plaza earlier in the day, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015, in Moneta, Va. (Stephanie Klein-Davis/The Roanoke Times via AP)   (Associated Press)

MONETA, Va. (AP) — The latest on the fatal on-air shooting of two TV station employees in Virginia (all times local):

2:13 p.m.

A Virginia official says the suspect in the fatal shooting of two TV station employees during a live broadcast has died.

Virginia Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran says Vester Flanagan died at 1:26 p.m. Wednesday.

Flanagan went by the name Bryce Williams on the air. He was a former employee at the station. The general manager says that he was known for being unhappy, angry and hard to work with, and that he was fired.

A reporter and a cameraman were fatally shot during a live interview outside a shopping mall Wednesday morning.

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2 p.m.

The fiancee of the cameraman killed during a live broadcast outside a Virginia shopping mall was marking her last day at the TV station before moving on to a job in North Carolina.

WDBJ-TV general manager Jeffrey Marks said Wednesday was cameraman Adam Ward's fiancee, station producer Melissa Ott, was in the control room Wednesday morning as the shooting unfolded.

In an interview with CNN, Marks said: "It's hard to imagine, isn't it? She was moving on to a station in Charlotte. It was going to be a day of celebration."

Ward and reporter Alison Parker were killed. Parker also was dating a co-worker, anchor Chris Hurst. Hurst tweeted that Ward and Parker worked together every day. He says: "They were a team."

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1:30 p.m.

The general manager of the TV station where the suspect in an on-air shooting used to work says he doesn't know whether he wants the man to survive.

Officials have named Vester Flanagan as the suspect in the Wednesday incident. WDBJ-TV reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were killed. Police say they apprehended Flanagan hours later as he sped away from troopers on the highway, crashing his car. Police say they found him with a life-threatening gunshot wound.

WDBJ-TV general manager Jeffrey Marks says Flanagan was a former reporter at the station, with a reputation as an unhappy man who was difficult to work with. Marks says Flanagan was fired after "many incidents of anger." Flanagan went by Bryce Williams on the air.

On Wednesday afternoon, Marks said of the former employee: "I'm not really sure whether I want him to live or die."

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1 p.m.

The general manager of a TV station where two employees were fatally shot during a live broadcast describes the suspect as an unhappy, angry man who eventually was fired.

Jeffrey Marks of WDBJ-TV in Virginia talked briefly on air about Vester Flanagan— who went by Bryce Williams on the air — on Wednesday afternoon. Marks says Flanagan was hired as a reporter a few years ago after a while out of the TV news business.

Marks says the man had a reputation of being difficult to work with and being on the lookout for people to say things he could take offense to.

Marks says: "Eventually, after many incidents of his anger coming to the fore, we dismissed him. He did not take that well."

Marks says that when Flanagan was fired, police had to escort him from the building.

Marks said that Flanagan alleged that other employees made racially-tinged comments to him and that he filed a complaint with the EEOC. But Marks says the allegations couldn't be corroborated. He says the claim was dismissed.

Marks says Flanagan remained in town after being fired, and every now and then, station employee ran into him.

WDBJ listed Bryce Williams as a reporter at the station on its website on Jan. 17, 2013. By Feb. 8 that same year, his name no longer appeared on the site.

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12:45 p.m.

A woman shot and wounded while she was being interviewed by a television crew during a live broadcast is in stable condition after undergoing surgery.

Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital said on its Facebook page Wednesday that Vicki Gardner, a local economic development official who also was on the hospital's board of directors, was recovering after the surgery. It did not elaborate on the nature of her wounds.

The hospital statement also says that hospital staff had gotten to know the two journalists killed, 24-year-old Alison Parker and 27-year-old Adam Ward, through many live reports from the hospital's facilities. It says the two were more than just journalists — "they were good friends who will be missed."

The suspect, Vester Flanagan, was found with a gunshot wound after leading police on a lengthy chase. His condition is unknown.

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12:40 p.m.

The man suspected of killing a TV reporter and cameraman during a live broadcast sued a former employer over allegations of race discrimination in 2000.

Vester Flanagan, who also appeared on air under the pseudonym Bryce Williams, sued WTWC-TV in north Florida in March 2000. The lawsuit claimed that a producer called him a "monkey" in 1999 and that other black employees had been called the same name by other workers.

Flanagan also claimed that an unnamed white supervisor at the station said black people were lazy because they did not take advantage of scholarships to attend college.

The station generally denied the allegations of discrimination and said it had legitimate reasons for ending Flanagan's employment, including poor performance, misbehavior with regard to co-workers, refusal to follow directions, use of profanity and budgetary reasons.

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12:35 p.m.

Video of two TV station employees fatally shot on-air early Wednesday shows a fleeting image of a man in black pants and a blue top pointing a gun at the station's camera.

That image was part of an intense search that followed for a suspect police identified as 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan II of Roanoke, who appeared on air at the TV station WDBJ in Virginia as Bryce Williams.

The shooting happened Wednesday morning outside a shopping center as a reporter interviewed an employee of the local chamber of commerce. The shooting played out during live TV on the broadcast from the station, WDBJ-TV, based in Roanoke and serving the southwest and central parts of Virginia.

Virginia State Police say they found the suspect about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. Police say troopers had pursued him on the highway, but he sped away and crashed. Police say he was found with life-threatening injuries.

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12:30 p.m.

Virginia State Police say that as they were pursuing the suspect in an on-air fatal shooting, he ran off the road and crashed, and was found suffering from a gunshot wound.

Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said Wednesday that the suspect is being treated for life-threatening injuries.

The suspect has been identified as 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan II of Roanoke, who appeared on air at the TV station WDBJ in Virginia as Bryce Williams.

A reporter and cameraman from WDBJ-TV were killed in the incident Wednesday morning.

Police say that shortly before 11:30 a.m., they initiated a traffic stop on the suspect vehicle on Interstate 66. Police say the driver refused to stop and sped away from the trooper, but ran off the road and crashed. Police say the troopers approached and found the driver suffering from a gunshot wound, and he is being taken to a hospital.

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12:30 p.m.

A Twitter account under an apparent alias of a man suspected of killing a TV reporter and cameraman describes what he claims were workplace conflicts with the pair.

The suspect, 41-year-old Vester Flanagan, appeared on air at WDBJ in Virginia under the name Bryce Williams. The tweets posted just hours after the killings of 24-year-old Alison Parker and 27-year-old cameraman Adam Ward claim she made racist comments.

The tweets also say Williams filed a report with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and that she was still hired despite that report. The tweets also say Ward reported Williams to human resources after working with him one time. The nature of that complaint was not described.

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12:15 p.m.

The Virginia TV station that saw a reporter and cameraman fatally shot in on-air footage has gone live for its noon broadcast, giving details about the suspect.

WDBJ-TV said Wednesday that suspect 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan II appeared on air at the station as Bryce Williams.

Video of the shooting was posted on the Twitter account and Facebook page of someone under the name Bryce Williams. The video showed an outstretched arm holding the handgun and firing repeatedly at Parker as she tried to run away.

Also, ABC News reported that someone using the name Bryce Williams sent the organization a lengthy fax that it has turned over to authorities.

WDBJ-TV general manager Jeffrey A. Marks and an anchor spoke to viewers for the Wednesday broadcast, several hours after the early morning shooting. They told viewers more about the victims — reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward. They spoke about the victims as family members at the station. Both were dating co-workers.

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11:55 a.m.

ABC News says it received a fax from someone who claimed to be Bryce Williams, a person on the staff at the Virginia station that saw two employees fatally shot on air.

ABC News says on its website that sometime between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, it received the fax. It describes it as a lengthy document of 23 pages. ABC News says it has turned the document over to authorities. ABC News did not offer any other details.

About 6:35 Wednesday morning, a reporter and cameraman were killed while doing a live broadcast outside a shopping center in central Virginia for WDBJ-TV. The shooting was broadcast live.

Video of the shooting was later posted on the Twitter account and Facebook page of someone under the name Bryce Williams. The video showed an outstretched arm holding the handgun and firing repeatedly at Parker as she tried to run away.

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11:05 a.m.

An official has identified the suspect in the fatal on-air shooting of a reporter and cameraman from a TV station in central Virginia.

Becky Coyner with dispatch and records at the Augusta County Sheriff's Office says the suspect is 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan II, of Roanoke.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe has said the suspect's arrest is imminent. He says police are in pursuit on the interstate, and he says the suspect is believed to be a disgruntled employee of the station, WDBJ-TV.

The station employees were killed in incident Wednesday morning at a shopping center, where an employee with the local chamber of commerce was being interviewed. The station says that person was injured in the shooting.

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10:55 a.m.

The Virginia TV station that saw two of its employees fatally shot during a live broadcast has identified a third person who was wounded during the shooting.

WDBJ-TV says on its website that Vicki Gardner of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce was wounded in incident Wednesday morning. She was being interviewed by reporter Alison Parker around 6:45 a.m. about tourism. Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were killed.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe has said the arrest of a suspect in the shooting is imminent. He says police are in pursuit of the suspect, believed to be a disgruntled employee of the station, on the highway.

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10:40 a.m.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe says police are chasing the suspect in a fatal on-air shooting, and his arrest is imminent.

McAuliffe says on a radio show on WTOP that the suspect is believed to be a disgruntled employee of WDBJ-TV. He says police are pursuing the suspect on Interstate 64.

McAuliffe made the remarks during an appearance on the radio station's regular "Ask the Governor" show on Wednesday morning. Hours earlier, a reporter and a cameraman were killed on air as they worked on a live broadcast at a shopping center in Moneta, in central Virginia.

McAuliffe says that law enforcement personnel have a photo of the suspect and that he was known to the victims.

He says: "We believe it's a disgruntled employee of the station, and they're in pursuit."

The Franklin County Sheriff's Office says in a news release that video recorded by the station's camera shows the male suspect holding a weapon.

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10:10 a.m.

A spokesman for the Virginia TV station that saw two of its employees fatally shot on air describes the slain cameraman as WDBJ-TV's "go-to guy."

WDBJ spokesman Mike Morgan says 27-year-old Adam Ward was engaged to a producer at the station, Melissa Ott.

Morgan says Adam had been with the station for four years.

Morgan says: "Adam was our go-to guy. He pretty much was available to do anything that we asked. He did live shots during our morning show for several years."

Also killed in the incident — at 6:45 a.m. at a shopping center overlooking a manmade lake — was reporter Alison Parker, who was dating the station's 6 p.m. anchor, Chris Hurst.

No suspect has been identified, and no motive is known in the shooting.

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10 a.m.

An anchor at the Virginia TV station that saw two of its employees fatally shot on air says he was in love with the reporter who died and that they wanted to get married.

Reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were killed in the Wednesday morning on-air shooting at a shopping center. Anchor Chris Hurst says in tweets that although the two didn't share their relationship publicly, they were in love and had just moved in together.

Hurst tweeted: "We were together almost nine months. It was the best nine months of our lives. We wanted to get married. We just celebrated her 24th birthday."

He also tweeted about the second victim, Ward, saying that Parker "worked with Adam every day. They were a team. I am heartbroken for his fiancee."

Hurst described the TV station as a family, tweeting: "I am comforted by everyone at @WDBJ7."

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