Agence France-Presse
Roanoke (US), August 27: The former television reporter who shot dead two journalists during a live US broadcast before killing himself warned he had been a “human powder keg… just waiting to go BOOM.” The gunman — Vester Lee Flanagan, 41, also known as Bryce Williams — posted chilling footage of yesterday’s shocking double murder online. Reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were shot and killed at close range while conducting an on-air interview for WDBJ, a CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Virginia, about 385 kilometres southwest of Washington.
Friends, family and the community at large mourned the tragedy, which renewed calls for tougher gun laws in the United States. Flanagan was said to have bought his gun legally. The killing also raised questions about how the Internet provided a brief but unfiltered window on a horrific crime. WDBJ’s morning newscast today held a moment of silence 24 hours to the minute after Parker and Ward were killed.
“We will, over time, heal from this,” said a grief-stricken morning anchor, Kimberly McBroom, holding hands with two colleagues. Video of the shooting – apparently filmed by Flanagan himself – was posted on Twitter and Facebook. The footage was later removed. Parker was interviewing Vicki Gardner, head of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce.
