Virgina –-(Ammoland.com)- A TV reporter and cameraman were shot to death during a live television interview on CBS Roanoke affiliate WDBJ-TV Wednesday by a gunman who recorded himself carrying out the killings and posted the video on social media after fleeing the scene.
Authorities identified the suspect as a journalist who had been fired from the station earlier this year. Hours later and hundreds of miles away, he ran off the road and a trooper found him with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He died at a hospital later Wednesday.
Virginia State Police Sgt. Rick Garletts said a license-plate reader alerted troopers to the suspect’s vehicle.
The shots Wednesday morning rang out on-air as reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were presenting a local tourism story at an outdoor shopping mall. Viewers saw her scream and run, and she could be heard saying “Oh my God,” as she fell. Ward fell, too, and the camera he had been holding on his shoulder captured a fleeting image of the suspect holding a handgun.
As you can see from the video, the gunman held his firearm in clear view for upwards of 20 seconds. No one in the area saw it until it was too late. This is a sad reminder of how important situational awareness is, and how we must be on guard at all times.
this is not a “phony” shooting as some have suggested Unless your shot in the head or spine you wouldn’t die instantly Every hunter knows this…. There would be time to run a little. This is obviously one extremely sick individual. Anyone, anywhere, and at any time could run across such a person. The color of thier skin has nothing to do with it. This man has blamed his failures in life upon the color of his skin. The truth is that he was mentally ill, and of poor character. The only way to defend yourself from such an encounter… Read more »
I agree with the comment above. This is being focused as a firearm issue when the main issue is the mental health issues that that man had. Like said before, if he used a knife there wouldn’t be anti-knife agendas being boasted about. That firearm wasn’t the cause of this horrific incident. The mentally ill man wielding it was. And if only a law abiding citizen who has a concealed and carry permit was there this man might have been stopped. Anyway, I guess an anti-gun person will take any incident they can and use it to there advantage which… Read more »
I agree it looks staged, the alleged suspect’s hand looks white, wearing a long sleeve shirt while the others are wearing summer clothing & he’s also dreesed like “Jason” from “Friday the 13th” standing about a foot or less from all three of them especially the two women who almost have a full frontal view of him while he is extending his arm with the firearm pointing in their direction & they don’t notice him!. Then he discharges 8-9 rounds from a pistol ranging from a 9mm – .45 caliber which appears to be no blood splatter anywhere, if you… Read more »
It looks like to me that latly most of the shootings are by black perpitrators SO LETS USE SOME COMMON CENTS AND BAN THEM FROM HAVING GUNS, MAKE CENTS???? YEP!!! BAN THE BLACKS FROM HAVING GUNS THAT SHOULD DO IT. EDWARDO
Our society wants to “understand” behavior. I believe there is no understanding this kind of madness. It is beyond human comprehension, what goes on in the mind of someone so warped and deeply sick….. there is no way we can understand, but we must learn something from these horrific events or these young peoples lives lost are lost if vain. We have no mechanism in place to take note of and catch behavior patterns that lead very sick people to resort to these horribly criminal, insane acts. If we focus on the gun we waste valuable energy and go down… Read more »
To just start shooting someone without provocation is something that I can’t wrap my mind around. The cold, calculating insanity required to do that is beyond my imagination. The fact that he was known to be mentally ill and that nothing could be done to get him treated should be a wake up call to all our politicians, but instead, they call for more useless gun control. What that tells me is that we need new politicians, as they are ignoring the needs of the people, and ignoring that we need stricter mental health laws.