Colleagues of shot TV pair pay own tribute
Day after reporter and cameraman shot dead, Virginia TV newsroom attempt business as usual
At 6.45am yesterday, exactly a day to the moment after Alison Parker, 24, a news reporter, and Adam Ward, 27, a cameraman, were shot dead on live US television, their colleagues joined hands and held a moment’s silence. They then returned to work. Kimberly McBroom, the news anchor on the morning show whose openmouthed shock as events unfolded was seen by viewers, said that yesterday had been difficult to get through, but added: “We can at least tell their story and let everyone know how wonderful they were.”
GUNSHOTS and then a scream. As the live feed on WDBJ7-TV went down, the camera cut to Kimberly McBroom, capturing her open-mouthed shock.
“Shooting was not the first thing I thought of,” she said yesterday, after finishing an emotional shift on the morning show the day after two of her colleagues were murdered live on air.
Maybe a light had blown, or someone was letting off fireworks, she had thought. “They were at the lake, it was a feature. It was just a run-of-the-mill ordinary live shot. The longer we went without hearing from them, the more it became clear something bad had happened, that something was very, very wrong.”
By the time she knew the truth, Alison Parker, 24, and Adam Ward, 27, were dead, killed by Vester Flanagan, a disgruntled former reporter.
Their colleagues held a moment’s silence yesterday morning at 6.45am, the time they died. “Joining hands here on the desk. It’s the only way to do it,” said Ms McBroom, as the camera caught a colleague mopping his eyes.
In the past 24 hours details have emerged of how Flanagan, 41 – who used the on-screen name of Bryce Williams – had a troubled history at the television stations where he had worked.
He had been ordered to seek help for mental health problems after a series of run-ins with colleagues at WDBJ7-TV in 2012. He was fired from the station months later. Flanagan later tried to sue the network, attempting to subpoena the personnel records of both of his future victims.
According to an internal memo included in court documents from that lawsuit, Flanagan responded to his severance letter by saying: “You better call police because I’m going to make a big stink.”
Ward reportedly videotaped Flanagan as officers physically escorted him from the building. Flanagan told Ward to “lose your big gut” and swore at the camera on his way out.
Flanagan’s family yesterday released a statement expressing their condolences. “Our thoughts and prayers at this time are with the victims’ families and the WDBJ7 news family,” it said. “Words cannot express the hurt that we feel for the victims.”
Police who searched Flanagan’s car said he appeared to have planned his escape. They found multiple magazines of ammunition, a to-do list, and a briefcase containing sunglasses, a wig, a shawl and a black hat.
His third victim, Vicki Gardner, who was being interviewed when Flanagan opened fire, was in a “good condition” yesterday at Carililom Roanoke Memorial Hospital, a spokesman said.
Inside the television station yesterday, it was something close to business as usual.
Colleagues reporting for duty had to pass two police sentries at the door as senior editors spent the day discussing whether it was safe to send reporters out on the streets.
Chris Hurst, an anchor at the station, who was in a relationship with Parker, was among those back at work.
He said he had made scrambled eggs and a smoothie for his girlfriend for breakfast and packed her a lunch before her shift.
“I’d never done that before for any woman, for anyone, but I wanted to do it for Alison because I loved her so much and I just took so much joy in something so minor as cutting strawberries for her,” he said.
Ms McBroom said it was a difficult morning to get through. “We can at least tell their story and let everyone know how wonderful they were,” she said.
Jeff Marks, the station manager, said everyone had reported for work and that grief counsellors were available for staff. “The mood is a mix of grief and let’s get on with it,” he said. “The anchors were holding back tears but they made it through and we knew they would, otherwise we wouldn’t have put them on air.”
All day, well-wishers, who said they invited Parker and Ward into their homes every morning, stopped by the television station to deliver flowers to a small makeshift shrine. Many said they had watched Wednesday’s tragic events unfold on screen, unsure whether they were watching a stunt or something much, much worse.
In a small city of about 100,000, everybody was on first name terms with the reporters. “Alison and Adam,” said Linda Fralin, 56, a nurse, “they made our mornings happy.”