A disgruntled former employee of a Virginia TV station stalked and ambushed a news crew during a live interview Wednesday morning before opening fire, killing a reporter and photographer and wounding the woman being interviewed.
Vester Lee Flanagan II, 41, who went by the name Bryce Williams while working at the station, WDBJ, has been identified as the suspect. His name was initially reported as Lester Lee Flanagan.
Flanagan shot himself after being confronted by police, WHSV reports. He was taken to the hospital and died at about 1:25 p.m.
The gunman opened fire during a live interview with a member of the local Chamber of Commerce. Cameraman Adam Ward, 27, and reporter Alison Parker, 23, of WDBJ 7 TV, were killed. The woman being interviewed, Vicki Gardner, was also shot and wounded, the Roanoke Times reports. She is in surgery after being shot in the back. Gardner is the executive director at the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce.
He was later confronted by police in Fauquier County, about three hours away from where the shooting occurred.
He posted video of the shooting on his Facebook and Twitter pages. The video shows him approaching the victims, and pointing a gun at them. He is behind them for several moments as Parker interviews Gardner. He holds the gun out until Ward turns the camera back toward Parker and Gardner, and then begins firing. The camera then shakes and drops as he opens fire. The camera continues recording, with a black screen, as screams and several more gunshots are heard.
Flanagan fired 15 times, emptying the entire magazine of the Glock handgun he was carrying.
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