‘An unhappy man’ Killer sacked by two different TV companies over his behaviour
Vester Flanagan held grudges against both of his victims, former colleagues Alison Parker and Adam Ward, and had a long history of threatening his coworkers, it has emerged.
He was sacked as a reporter by WDBJ7 TV in 2013 after his “anger” became a problem, the station’s manager said, and had made wild claims about racism.
He claimed Miss Parker had “made racist comments” and Mr Ward had made a complaint to the station’s HR department after working with him.
Flanagan, 41, was born in Oakland, California. He was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness and claimed to have worked as a model as well as a “high paid companion”.
He took a degree in broadcast journalism at San Francisco State University and began his career as an intern at the city’s KPIX-TV in 1993.
By 1997, he was working as an on-air reporter and anchor for WTWC television in Florida, using the professional name Bryce Williams. But his career came to a halt in 2000, when he was fired for “bizarre behaviour and threatening employees”, according to one source.
He sued WTWC, claiming he had suffered racial prejudice and sought more than $75,000 in damages. He also said he had suffered discrimination for being gay. His claim was settled out of court in 2001.
He was reduced to working as a “customer service representative” in call centres.
By 2002, he had found a way back into broadcasting as a reporter and producer for WNCTTV in North Carolina, leaving in 2004 and spending seven years in the communications department of the professional services company NDG Interactive.
His final job in television began in 2012 when he was taken on by WDBJ7 as a multimedia journalist.
He was reportedly referred to as a “human tape recorder” by his station bosses for his “stiff and nervous” delivery, according to a performance review ahead of his dismissal in 2013.
He was also apparently reprimanded for wearing a sticker supporting President Barack Obama while reporting on the 2012 US presidential election.
Flanagan was told by his bosses that year to seek medical attention as his “behaviours continue to cause friction with your co-workers”, memos show. He was warned that he would be fired if he continued to cause a “hostile work environment” by lashing out at colleagues. He lost his job less than a year after being taken on.
WDBJ7’s station manager, Jeffrey Marks, said Flanagan had to be escorted from the building when he was fired because of his “anger”.
He said: “Vester was an unhappy man. He quickly gathered a reputation as someone who was difficult to work with. Eventually, after many incidents of his anger coming to the fore, we dismissed him. He did not take that well, we had to call the police to escort him from the building.
He said Flanagan claimed the staff had made “racial comments” but “none of them could be corroborated, we think they were fabricated”. The complaint was dismissed.