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Vester Lee Flanagan

Vester Lee Flanagan13 posts

Vester Lee Flanagan (AKA Bryce WIlliams) was an American TV reporter who killed Alison Parker and Adam Ward while they were making a live TV report in Moneta, VA on August 26, 2015. After a police pursuit he shoots himself.

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28 Aug, 2015

Comes out of coma, describes attack

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Gardner wakes from her medically-induced coma and tells her husband that she couldn’t see Flanagan approaching in front of her because of the bright lights of the camera. She says that Flanagan first targeted Parker, before turning to shoot Ward. She remembers seeing him wearing body armor. Husband:

Then he shot three times at my wife, and she was trying to dodge everything. He missed twice, and then she dove to the ground and curled up in a ball, and that’s when he shot her in the back. I don’t think she ever felt like she was in danger after she got up and walked to the ambulance after being shot, but she didn’t know the extent of her injuries at that point, but the surgeon told me that a couple of centimeters and she wouldn’t be walking and a couple of centimeters more and she wouldn’t be alive.

Once Flanagan left, Gardner started walking away in search of help – despite suffering a bullet wound in her back. An ambulance took her to Roanoke Memorial Hospital where she underwent emergency surgery, followed by additional surgery to her abdomen, where a kidney and part of her colon were removed. She is expected to make a full recovery.

27 Aug, 2015

Flanagan’s family statement

Makes Statement6 Comments

Flanagan’s family makes several statements to the media.

It is with heavy hearts and deep sadness we express our deepest condolences to the families of Alison Parker and Adam Ward. We are praying for the recovery of Vicki Gardner. Our thoughts and prayers at this time are with the victims’ families and the WDBJ television station family….Words cannot express the hurt that we feel for the victims. Our family is asking that the media respect our privacy…It’s a shock to everyone.

26 Aug, 2015

Parker’s father calls for stronger gun laws

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Andy Parker says that gun laws must be strengthened:

Everybody that she touched loved her, and she loved everybody back. I’m not going to let this issue drop. We’ve got to do something about crazy people getting guns.  [I will do ] whatever it takes to get gun legislation to shame legislators into doing something about closing loopholes and background checks. This is not the last you’ve heard of  me. This is something that’s Alison’s legacy that I want to make happen.

Police in pursuit

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Governor McAuliffe says on the Ask the Governor radio show on WTOP that the suspect is believed to be a disgruntled employee of WDBJ-TV. He says police are pursuing the suspect on Interstate 64. He says that law enforcement personnel have a photo of the suspect and that he was known to the victims.

We believe it’s a disgruntled employee of the station, and they’re in pursuit.

ABC receives Manifesto

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ABC News says a man claiming to be Bryce Williams called the network over the last few weeks saying he wanted to pitch a story and wanted to fax information. A little after 10 a.m. the network receives another phone call from a man identifying himself the shooting suspect. The caller says the authorities are after him and “all over the place” before hanging up. The network says it receives a 23-page fax. The writer says the attack was triggered by his reaction to the 2015 Charleston church shooting.

Why did I do it? I put down a deposit for a gun on 6/19/15. The Church shooting in Charleston happened on 6/17/15…What sent me over the top was the church shooting. And my hollow point bullets have the victims’ initials on them…The church shooting was the tipping point… but my anger has been building steadily.. I’ve been a human powder keg for a while.. just waiting to go BOOM!!!!

He says Jehovah spoke to him, telling him to act, and quotes the Virginia Tech mass killer, Seung Hui Cho, calling him “his boy.” as well as expressing admiration for the Columbine High School killers. Part of the document is titled A Suicide Note for Friends and Family.

Tweets after shooting

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CNWGZ8pUkAAGaXIFlanagan tweets (under the name Bryce Williams) that he filmed the shooting, as well as claiming Parker was racist. The account is deactivated by Twitter.

Alison made racist comments…EEOC Report filed…They hired her after that???…Adam went to HR after working with me one time!!!…I filmed the shooting see Facebook.