Bedford: A former reporter who was fired by a Virginia television station shot and killed two of the station's journalists as they broadcast live on Wednesday morning, officials said, recording the act on video himself and then posting the video online.
The shooting and the graphic images that resulted marked a horrific turn in the national intersection of video, violence and social media. The gunman's own 56-second video showed him deliberately waiting until the journalists were on air before raising a handgun and firing at point-blank range, ensuring that it would be seen, live or recorded, by thousands.
After leading the police on a high-speed pursuit, the gunman shot himself in the head and later died, officials said.
Shortly after the shooting, a post to Williams' Twitter account said, "I filmed the shooting see Facebook," and a shocking video recording from the gunman's point of view was posted to his Facebook page. Both accounts were quickly shut down.
Jeffrey A. Marks, president and general manager of the station, confirmed that the complaint had been filed but said it was dismissed as baseless. Of the racist comments, "none of them could be corroborated by anyone," he said. "We think they were fabricated."
At WDBJ, Williams "quickly gathered a reputation as someone who was difficult to work with," Marks said. "He was sort of looking out for people to say things that he could take offense to. Eventually, after many incidents of his anger coming to the fore, we dismissed him. He did not take that well, and we had to call the police to escort him from the building."
Both victims were romantically involved with other members of the station's staff, he said. "We have other members of the team here today, holding back tears, frankly," he said.
The station's own disturbing video of the shooting shows Parker and Gardner talking. As shots ring out, Parker screams and stumbles backward, and amid jumbled images, the camera falls to the floor. Eight shots can be heard before the camera cuts back to the stunned anchor at the station, Kimberly McBroom.
"We heard screaming, and then we heard nothing, and the camera fell," Marks said. "We are choosing not to run the video of that right now because, frankly, we don't need to see it again, and our staff doesn't need to see it again."
He said, "How can this individual have robbed these families, the families of Alison and Adam, of their lives and their happiness and their love, for whatever reason?"
Gardner was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where she is a member of the board of directors, for emergency surgery.
ABC News reported that it had received a 23-page fax from Williams and had given it to law enforcement officials. A Virginia government official who had seen the fax described it as the "rantings of an obviously depressed individual" who mentions suicide but does not talk about killing others.
Police officers followed Williams, driving a rental car, northbound on Interstate 81, and then eastbound on Interstate 66. The Virginia State Police said its troopers tried to pull him over shortly before 11:30 on I-66, but he sped away, and minutes later, ran off the road and crashed.
The Virginia official said it appeared Williams had shot himself in the head while driving, which caused the crash.
According to his LinkedIn page, Williams was a multimedia journalist at WDBJ, but left the station in February 2013 after less than a year. He previously worked at television stations across the South, including in Greenville, North Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; and Tallahassee, Florida. His online profile said he had earned a bachelor's degree from San Francisco State University.
Williams filed a lawsuit in 2000 against WTWC, the Tallahassee station where he worked, making allegations similar to those he made about WDBJ. The case was quickly settled on undisclosed terms.
"He was a good on-air performer, pretty good reporter, and then things started getting a little strange with him," Don Shafer, who with Williams at WTWC, said in a broadcast on the station where he now works in San Diego. He said Williams' contract was terminated, in part, because of bizarre behavior and threatening other employees.
"He turned around and sued us," Shafer said, "He wanted to sue us for something else, he ended up suing us for racial discrimination."
A video compilation of Williams' reporting, of the kind reporters often make to show prospective employers, begins, chillingly, with him holding a gun. But at WDBJ, he typically did human interest stories: A town with three churches within a three-block area; firefighters handout out free smoke detectors; Huntfest, an annual hunting-products event at the Roanoke Civic Center; a local man turning 100.
Parker had been dating Chris Hurst, a WDBJ anchor, he and other station employees said Wednesday.
"She was the most radiant woman I ever met," Hurst wrote on Twitter. "And for some reason she loved me back. She loved her family, her parents and her brother."
Hurst said Ward, who was engaged, and Parker had worked together regularly.
According to a biography of Parker on the WDBJ website, she grew up near Martinsville, Virginia, and had worked as an intern at the television station. A 2012 graduate of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, she was a news editor at the college paper, The Breeze, and later worked at WCTI NewsChannel 12 in its Jacksonville, North Carolina, bureau, which is near Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
A fan of white-water kayaking and community theater, Parker liked to play with her parents' dog, Jack, the station's website said.
"She learned the ropes of journalism in J.M.U.'s School of Media Arts and Design," the website said. "During her last semester in school, she learned how to produce newscasts at WHSV, an ABC/Fox affiliate station in Harrisonburg."
"She was everything you wanted s reporter to be: tough but fair, with lots of ideas," says Brad Jenkins, the general manager of the Breeze. "We're stunned."
Ryan Parkhurst, a faculty member in the School of Media Arts and Design, said he taught Parker in three classes and mentored her for four years. He was particularly impressed that she lined up her first post-college job, at WCTI in North Carolina, while still in college.
"She was my favorite student that I ever taught," he said. "I'm devastated because I remember the amazing person, and that she won't be going after these stories."
Ward graduated from Salem High School and Virginia Tech. Ward's Facebook page is full of ebullient pictures of himself and his fiancée, Melissa Ott, a producer at WDBJ, on vacation in Las Vegas and, most recently this summer, Atlantic City.
"This is a horrific day for our family and the community we serve," the station's chief meteorologist, Brent Watts, said on Twitter.
Video of the shooting (Disclaimer: Disturbing visuals. Viewer's discretion advised.)
The shooting and the graphic images that resulted marked a horrific turn in the national intersection of video, violence and social media. The gunman's own 56-second video showed him deliberately waiting until the journalists were on air before raising a handgun and firing at point-blank range, ensuring that it would be seen, live or recorded, by thousands.
After leading the police on a high-speed pursuit, the gunman shot himself in the head and later died, officials said.
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Shortly after the shooting, a post to Williams' Twitter account said, "I filmed the shooting see Facebook," and a shocking video recording from the gunman's point of view was posted to his Facebook page. Both accounts were quickly shut down.
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Jeffrey A. Marks, president and general manager of the station, confirmed that the complaint had been filed but said it was dismissed as baseless. Of the racist comments, "none of them could be corroborated by anyone," he said. "We think they were fabricated."
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At WDBJ, Williams "quickly gathered a reputation as someone who was difficult to work with," Marks said. "He was sort of looking out for people to say things that he could take offense to. Eventually, after many incidents of his anger coming to the fore, we dismissed him. He did not take that well, and we had to call the police to escort him from the building."
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Both victims were romantically involved with other members of the station's staff, he said. "We have other members of the team here today, holding back tears, frankly," he said.
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The station's own disturbing video of the shooting shows Parker and Gardner talking. As shots ring out, Parker screams and stumbles backward, and amid jumbled images, the camera falls to the floor. Eight shots can be heard before the camera cuts back to the stunned anchor at the station, Kimberly McBroom.
"We heard screaming, and then we heard nothing, and the camera fell," Marks said. "We are choosing not to run the video of that right now because, frankly, we don't need to see it again, and our staff doesn't need to see it again."
He said, "How can this individual have robbed these families, the families of Alison and Adam, of their lives and their happiness and their love, for whatever reason?"
Gardner was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where she is a member of the board of directors, for emergency surgery.
ABC News reported that it had received a 23-page fax from Williams and had given it to law enforcement officials. A Virginia government official who had seen the fax described it as the "rantings of an obviously depressed individual" who mentions suicide but does not talk about killing others.
Police officers followed Williams, driving a rental car, northbound on Interstate 81, and then eastbound on Interstate 66. The Virginia State Police said its troopers tried to pull him over shortly before 11:30 on I-66, but he sped away, and minutes later, ran off the road and crashed.
The Virginia official said it appeared Williams had shot himself in the head while driving, which caused the crash.
According to his LinkedIn page, Williams was a multimedia journalist at WDBJ, but left the station in February 2013 after less than a year. He previously worked at television stations across the South, including in Greenville, North Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; and Tallahassee, Florida. His online profile said he had earned a bachelor's degree from San Francisco State University.
Williams filed a lawsuit in 2000 against WTWC, the Tallahassee station where he worked, making allegations similar to those he made about WDBJ. The case was quickly settled on undisclosed terms.
"He was a good on-air performer, pretty good reporter, and then things started getting a little strange with him," Don Shafer, who with Williams at WTWC, said in a broadcast on the station where he now works in San Diego. He said Williams' contract was terminated, in part, because of bizarre behavior and threatening other employees.
"He turned around and sued us," Shafer said, "He wanted to sue us for something else, he ended up suing us for racial discrimination."
A video compilation of Williams' reporting, of the kind reporters often make to show prospective employers, begins, chillingly, with him holding a gun. But at WDBJ, he typically did human interest stories: A town with three churches within a three-block area; firefighters handout out free smoke detectors; Huntfest, an annual hunting-products event at the Roanoke Civic Center; a local man turning 100.
Parker had been dating Chris Hurst, a WDBJ anchor, he and other station employees said Wednesday.
"She was the most radiant woman I ever met," Hurst wrote on Twitter. "And for some reason she loved me back. She loved her family, her parents and her brother."
Hurst said Ward, who was engaged, and Parker had worked together regularly.
According to a biography of Parker on the WDBJ website, she grew up near Martinsville, Virginia, and had worked as an intern at the television station. A 2012 graduate of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, she was a news editor at the college paper, The Breeze, and later worked at WCTI NewsChannel 12 in its Jacksonville, North Carolina, bureau, which is near Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
A fan of white-water kayaking and community theater, Parker liked to play with her parents' dog, Jack, the station's website said.
"She learned the ropes of journalism in J.M.U.'s School of Media Arts and Design," the website said. "During her last semester in school, she learned how to produce newscasts at WHSV, an ABC/Fox affiliate station in Harrisonburg."
"She was everything you wanted s reporter to be: tough but fair, with lots of ideas," says Brad Jenkins, the general manager of the Breeze. "We're stunned."
Ryan Parkhurst, a faculty member in the School of Media Arts and Design, said he taught Parker in three classes and mentored her for four years. He was particularly impressed that she lined up her first post-college job, at WCTI in North Carolina, while still in college.
"She was my favorite student that I ever taught," he said. "I'm devastated because I remember the amazing person, and that she won't be going after these stories."
Ward graduated from Salem High School and Virginia Tech. Ward's Facebook page is full of ebullient pictures of himself and his fiancée, Melissa Ott, a producer at WDBJ, on vacation in Las Vegas and, most recently this summer, Atlantic City.
"This is a horrific day for our family and the community we serve," the station's chief meteorologist, Brent Watts, said on Twitter.
Video of the shooting (Disclaimer: Disturbing visuals. Viewer's discretion advised.)
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© 2015, The New York Times News Service
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