WDBJ producer watched from control room as cameraman fiance killed on live TV report
Slain journalists Adam Ward and Alison Parker leave behind fiance and boyfriend who also worked at station
The Virginia journalists who were murdered during a live broadcast Wednesday morning were both in loving relationships with co-workers at the station.
WDBJ reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were shot and killed about 6:45 a.m. at Bridgewater Plaza in Moneta, Va., on Smith Mountain Lake.
“I cannot tell you how much they were loved, Alison and Adam, by the WDBJ7 team. They both were in love — and we’ll talk about that a little more — with other members of the team here,” WDBJ-TV president and general manager Jeff Marks said on the air. “Our hearts are broken and our sympathies go to the entire staff here, but also the parents and family of Adam Ward and Alison Parker.”
Ward was engaged to WDBJ morning producer Melissa Ott, who was reportedly in the control room when her fiancé was killed. It was her last day at the local station and the couple preparing for a move to Charlotte, N.C., where she had accepted a new job.
“This was actually Melissa’s last morning producing our show, and we were celebrating that with her earlier today,” said WDBJ anchor Kimberly McBroom on air. “Alison had brought in balloons. I brought in the cake. It was a day of celebration.”
Ward planned to leave the news industry to pursue a different profession, according to WDBJ anchor Jean Jadhon.
“We’re all in a state of shock here. You can hear people behind us in the news room crying,” she said on air, holding back tears. “It’s just really hard to comprehend.”
Parker had recently moved in with her boyfriend, Chris Hurst, a 28-year-old co-worker at the Roanoke-based CBA affiliate.
“We were together almost nine months. It was the best nine months of our lives. We wanted to get married. We just celebrated her 24th birthday,” he said in a series of tweets. “She was the most radiant woman I ever met. And for some reason she loved me back. She loved her family, her parents and her brother.”
Hurst described their workplace as family and said colleagues were comforting him at this time. He said that Parker and Ward worked together every day.
“They were a team. I am heartbroken for his fiancée,” he said.
Parker’s co-workers remember her as a “rock star” with a bubbly personality and as someone who could handle any challenge that came her way.
“She really has done a wonderful job reporting, filling in anchoring. You know, you throw anything at that girl and she could do it,” McBroom said.
On Hurst’s professional Facebook page, he shared a series of photos of their time together – at a costume party, a painting class, formal occasions and a casual stroll along the river.
Both victims were natives of the area they covered. Parker, who grew up in Martinsville, Va., graduated from James Madison University. Ward was raised in Salem, Va., and graduated from Virginia Tech. They had worked together for nearly a year.
Authorities identified the suspect as former station employee Vester L. Flanagan, who went by Bryce Williams on the air. State police say Flanagan shot himself after a chase.
It appears that Flanagan filmed the shooting and posted a video of it to his Twitter feed, which was swiftly suspended after the disturbing video appeared.
http://news.yahoo.com/wdbj-alison-parker-adam-ward-shooting-roanoke-virginia-152804652.html
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