Live -air murder

Attack on journalists in Virginia. Short

In the American state of Virginia, a former employee of the local television channel shot two former colleagues right during the report. After the chase that lasted several hours, the criminal shot himself, but survived. Medusa briefly talks about what happened.

In the early morning of August 26, the WDBJ7 TV channel filming (included on the CBS network) was aired from the newly opened building of the shopping, entertainment and sports center "Bridzhuoter-Plaza" in the town of Virginia. The correspondent Alison Parker talked with the head of the city Chamber of Commerce about local tourism. At about 6:45, the report was interrupted by shots: an unknown man released at least eight bullets in television televisors working live.

As a result of the attack, 24-year-old Parker, as well as an operator, 27-year-old Adam Ward, died on the spot. The interlocutor Parker, Wicca Gardner, was injured. The fallen television camera continued to work and photographed the face of a runaway criminal - but these personnel no longer got on the television.

According to this image, it was possible to identify the shooter: they turned out to be 41-year-old Wester Lee Flenagan. The police described him as a "fair -skinned African American." He turned out to be a former employee of the WDBJ7 television channel, a colleague of journalists killed by him. According to the authorities, on the channel he was known under a different name - Brice Williams.

It soon became clear that the shooting of the television camera from the scene is not the only one. During the attack, Flanagan filmed his actions on the phone and even managed to post an entry on the network (the criminal accounts on Twitter and Facebook are already blocked, but the video is available on Liveleak. The video does not contain the image of the murder, but we still do not recommend watching it).

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The police began to pursue Flenagan almost immediately after the murder. The pursuit, during which the suspect changed two cars, lasted several hours. As a result, the suspect moved out of the highway and tried to shoot himself: he was found with a gunshot wound at 11:37 in the morning. Flanagan did not die immediately, he was in critical condition for several hours, but later his death was announced.

Apparently, the killer was able to post on the phone on the phone on the Internet already during the persecution. He also continued to write on Twitter (who led under the name Bryce Williams).

Of the media records that have survived in the network, preliminary conclusions about the motives of Flanagan are drawn. The criminal wrote in Twites that the correspondent Alison Parker allowed himself racist statements (though it is unclear whose address). He also wrote that he announced the behavior of Parker to the Commission to ensure equal opportunities for employment. “And after that they hired her ???”.

The tweets also say that Adam [Ward] complained about Flanagan into the personnel management department, having worked with him only once. The latter tweet said: "I took off the murder for Facebook,".