Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY 29August2015

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U.S. NEWSSaturday 29 August 2015
Survivor recounts on-air TV shooting from hospital bed
DAVID DISHNEAU
JOHN RABY
Associated Press
ROANOKE, Virginia (AP)
— The woman who sur-
vived the on-air shooting
that killed two TV journal-
ists says she never saw the
gunman walk up because
the camera’s bright light
blinded her.
Vicki Gardner was answer-
ing questions on live TV
when the gunfire erupted.
She was wounded as she
fell to the ground after
hearing the first gunshots,
her husband said Friday.
The gunman, Vester Fla-
nagan, ambushed WDBJ-
TV cameraman Adam
Ward and reporter Alison
Parker during the inter-
view Wednesday at a visi-
tor center. Gardner is ex-
ecutive director of a resort
area’s chamber of com-
merce.
The first four shots were
aimed at Parker, and
two more were aimed at
Ward, Gardner’s husband,
Despite volatility, on-air rampage difficult to predict
JAY REEVES
DAVE DISHNEAU
Associated Press
ROANOKE, Virginia (AP) —
Living alone in a world of
perceived slights, Vester
Lee Flanagan II never
quite crossed the line from
being just another angry
guy to doing something
that would have prevent-
ed him from buying the
gun he used to kill two for- station that had fired him
mer co-workers on live TV
in Virginia.
Flanagan, 41, had never
been arrested for a felony
and had no criminal re-
cord. There are no records
indicating he was ever
committed for psychiatric
care.
Hop-scotching around the
country for work, he rarely
stayed anywhere longer
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, left, and his wife, Dorothy, right, visit with Chris Hurst, boyfriend of ment Friday. The writings
slain WDBJ-TV journalist Alison Parker, Friday, Aug. 28, 2015, in Roanoke, Va. The woman who
survived the on-air shooting says she never saw the gunman walk up because the camera’s
bright light blinded her.
Tim, said in a telephone in-
terview from the hospital
where she is recovering.
Then he fired at Gardner,
though his first couple of
shots missed her.
than a year and didn’t
appear to socialize much.
Instead, the lasting impres-
sion among those he met
— whether it was co-work-
ers or a store clerk — was
for lashing out for imag-
ined offenses that others
couldn’t fathom. His fam-
ily at the other end of the
country, he lived alone in
an apartment near the TV
two years ago.
Video from inside his home
obtained by NBC News
shows a sparsely decorat-
ed apartment and a refrig-
erator plastered with pho-
tos of himself, including old porter Alison Parker, 24,
class pictures and model-
ing shots that he also post-
ed on social media.
How can anyone stop
someone from carrying
(Stephanie Davis/The Roanoke Times via AP)
“And then when she dove
down and got shot, he
stopped shooting and
took off,” he said. “But she
wasn’t sure he was gone,
so she just laid there play-
out a massacre when
there seem to be no hints
of looming violence — or
no one close enough to
notice?
“We all wish we could pre-
dict human behavior ac-
curately all the time,” said
Clint Van Zandt, a former
FBI behavioral profiler. “The on-air name, Bryce Wil-
behavior doesn’t cross the
line until he shows he pres-
ents a realistic, immediate
threat to himself and oth-
ers.”
Flanagan fatally shot
himself while fleeing po-
lice and couldn’t explain
why he killed WDBJ-TV re-
and 27-year-old camera-
man Adam Ward. In a fax
to ABC News, Flanagan
wrote that he had been
mistreated for being black
ing possum until first re-
sponders showed up.”
Flanagan fired 17 shots
from a Glock pistol, the
Franklin County Sheriff’s
Office said in a state-
and gay, and the “tipping
point” was the shooting
that killed nine black peo-
ple at a church in Charles-
ton, South Carolina, in
June.
Perhaps to bring attention
to his complaints after-the-
fact, Flanagan — using his
liams — posted a grisly vid-
eo of himself killing Parker
and Wade and sent a se-
ries of tweets complaining
about the two, who often
worked together on the
station’s morning show. Of
Parker, an intern when he
was at the station ahead
of his February 2013 firing,
he complained she had
made racist comments;
of Ward, he claimed the
cameraman went to the
station’s HR department
and evidence seized from
Flanagan’s apartment
showed the man “closely
identified” with people
who have committed
mass murders, including
the Sept. 11 terrorist at-
tacks.
Parker and Ward died of
gunshot wounds to the
head and body. Vicki
Gardner was shot in the
back.
Flanagan shot himself
to death after a police
chase. Flanagan, a former
reporter at WDBJ, was fired
from the station in 2013 for
poor performance and
conflicts with co-workers.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe met
privately with station em-
ployees to share his con-
dolences.
He also talked about his
support for universal back-
ground checks for gun
purchases and said he
and Alison Parker’s father,
Adam, would fight for
tougher gun laws.q
after working with him just
a single time.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobac-
co, Firearms and Explosives
spokesman Thomas Faison
has said Flanagan legally
purchased the gun used
in the slaying that also left
a local economic devel-
opment official injured,
something that couldn’t
have happened if he had
prior felony convictions or
a history of mental health
commitments.
It’s unclear whether Fla-
nagan had ever been
treated for psychiatric
problems. The people he
encountered described
him as unstable and with
a hair-trigger temper, but
no one has so far said
he made threatening
remarks.q