Photo Credit: NBC News
The man suspected of shooting two WBDJ employees earlier this morning in Roanoke, Va. was pronounced dead at the Inova Fairfax Hospital. According to police, he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a traffic stop.
Vester Flanagan II, 41, also known as Bryce Williams, shot and killed reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27.
Flanagan worked for NBC news affiliate -WTWC 40- in Tallahassee as a reporter before working at WDBJ with Parker and Ward.
He was fired from WDBJ prior to the shooting, but it has not been made public yet why. Former employees spoke to CNN and described Flanagan as “disgruntled”.
Flanagan once had a lawsuit against WTWC 40 for discrimination in 2000. Documented reports show that him and another employee were called “monkeys” and a supervisor at the station once said to him, "blacks are lazy and do not take advantage of free money." The suit was settled in 2001.
ABC News received a 23-page fax from Bryce Williams, which included his manifesto. He cited the shootings from Columbine, Virginia Tech, and most recently, Charleston.
Flanagan posted two videos, one before the shooting and one of the shooting. He also posted a tweet afterward saying, “I filmed the shooting.” He posted the video on both Facebook and Twitter.
Interviewee, Vicki Gardner, the head of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce, was also wounded during the live broadcast and is currently in stable condition after undergoing surgery.