Someone Claiming to be Bryce Williams Sent Fax — ABC News

Vester Lee Flanagan, who is known professionally as Bryce Williams, has been identified as the suspect by the Augusta County Sheriff’s office. In the document, he addressed suspected Charleston shooter Dylann Roof and accepted his challenge for a “race war”.

The man behind Wednesday’s deadly shooting of journalists Alison Parker and Adam Ward cited mass-shootings as the inspiration behind his attack along with personal grievances.

And then there were these comments on the web that made me wonder.

Investigators in Virginia said they were examining the manifesto.

A previous coworker, Larell Reynolds, said Bryce couldn’t take criticism when he worked with Williams. We have proven that in South Carolina.

The network posted a portion of the note: “Why did I do it?”

He also wrote that he was inspired by Virginia Tech shooter Seung Hui Chon (“That’s my boy right there”) and, oddly enough, the Charleston massacre allegedly carried out by white supremacist Dylann Roof. “And my hollow point bullets have the victims’ initials on them”.

While on the phone, he said authorities are “after me”, and “all over the place”, before hanging up. You [deleted]! You want a race war [deleted]? Flanagan was black and had formerly complained about racial bias at the station.

One photo posted to Bryce’s timeline shows Williams with people that the description says are his parents.

And yet, the news team at the grief-stricken home station of the 24-year-old Parker and 27-year-old Ward managed to keep their composure, and admirably displayed their professionalism, as they covered every aspect of the fast-moving story.

Update (10:35 A.M.): The Roanoke Times reports that Vicki Gardner, the head of the local chamber of commerce who was being interviewed during the segment, was shot in the back during the attack and is now in surgery.

Walker, who is also black, noted that he had not experienced discrimination at the station. It did not elaborate on the nature of her wounds.

The Twitter account has since been suspended. He crashed his vehicle and was found inside with a gunshot wound.

Flanagan shot himself after leading a chase with police Wednesday morning.

In the 23-page document, the writer claiming to be Flanagan said the Charleston church shooting in June triggered today’s shootings.

The victims of the shooting included the historic church’s pastor, State Sen. and Rev. Clementa Pinckney, along with Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, the Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, the Rev. Daniel Simmons, Sr., Sharonda Singleton and Myra Thompson.