Virginia television journalists shot in heads, bodies: medical examiner

The grief-stricken father of a young Viriginia reporter who was shot and killed on live TV said Friday in an emotional gathering with reporters that he was determined to “shame” politicians into enacting stricter gun control laws in memory of his daughter.

Chris, 28, said he was managing to cope with the love and support of his family, friends and colleagues. The gunman, Vester Flanagan, a disgruntled former reporter for WDBJ, later killed himself. The attack was recorded live on air and Flanagan later posted a tweet which included an apparent video of the shooting. “He got almost double the amount that Eric Harris and Dylann Klebold got…just sayin”, Flanagan wrote citing the Columbine High School shooters. Flanagan’s suit claiming harassment and racial discrimination was dismissed in July 2014. Flanagan died at the Inova Fairfax Hospital from a self-inflicted gunshot wound later on Tuesday.

Police added that, based on the evidence, the on-air murders were “well planned and premeditated”. Citing a federal law enforcement source, USA Today said Flanagan had legally bought two Glock handguns, including the one used in the attack. “It’s one of our main theories”.

On Wednesday, Enterprise told NBC News, “When situations involve the police, we always – as a matter of policy – refer all related media queries to the local authorities”. Vicki Gardner was shot in the back.

ROANOKE, Va. – Vester Flanagan constantly saw himself as the target in his conflicts with colleagues at television station WDBJ, leading his former boss to describe him as a “professional victim”.

The deaths of Parker and Ward have been ruled homicides, said a spokeswoman with the Virginia medical examiner’s office in Roanoke, about 320 kilometres southwest of Washington.

On the day he was sacked, Flanagan pressed a wooden cross into Dennison’s hand and said, “You’ll need this”, as two police officers escorted him out. “We are also praying for the recovery of Vicki Gardner“, Amber Bowman, a spokeswoman for Flanagan’s family, said from Vallejo, California.

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe visited WDBJ7 Friday morning, meeting with the parents of Alison Parker and with members of the staff.

However Mrs Gardner, the executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake chamber of commerce, managed to survive. “She was trying to dodge everything. She was ducking and dodging and ended up on the ground, kind of hunched over, and he shot her in the back”.