Police have confirmed that murder suspect Vester Flanagan died on Wednesday following a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Flanagan apparently shot and killed WDBJ7 news reporter Alison Parker and camera operator Adam Ward early on Wednesday morning during a live TV report. Flanagan, who was fired from WDBJ7 two years ago, worked as an anchor under the moniker Bryce Williams. A first-person video of the murder was posted on a Twitter account “Bryce Williams” just minutes after it occurred. Police haven’t confirmed a motive.
Yet Tweets from the Bryce Williams Twitter account suggest that the news anchor held a grudge against his former coworkers over perceived or real racial discrimination. Before the account was taken down by Twitter later on Wednesday, Flanagan apparently tweeted that “Alison [Parker] made racist comments,” and that he had filed a formal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Flanagan has reportedly filed other racial discrimination complaints against another former employer, NBC news.
As WDBJ7 staff audibly wept offscreen in the Virginia station’s newsroom, General Manager Jeff Marks said that the members of the news station were “in shock” following the Virginia shooting of the two employees. He explained that both were "in love" with other colleagues at the station, which he described as a "family."
He also confirmed that Flanagan had filed an EEOC complaint and described the circumstances of the alleged gunman’s firing from the station two years earlier.
“We dismissed him, and he did not take that well. We had to call the police to escort him from the building. He then filed an action with the [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission], in which he made all kinds of complaints,” Marks said in the live broadcast.
Buzzfeed has reported that EEOC can’t confirm the filing of the complaint, citing privacy concerns. The Latin Times has filed a Freedom Of Information Act Request to the Commission. Marks dismissed the EEOC complaint, and said that he couldn’t confirm is Alison Parker or Adam Ward were named in the complaint.
“There may have been one about Alison [Parker] or Adam [Ward], I don’t know, [but the complaints were] about members of the staff making racial comments -- [Vester Flanagan] was African American,” Mark said, adding that the station had conducted an investigation into racial discrimination in the station in general.
“[None Flanagan’s complaints] could be corroborated by anyone. We think they were fabricated. But just as an insurance policy we went around and talked to all of our employees who might have been able to be exposed to this, and we have a pretty diverse workplace.”
Mark said that the EEOC claim was eventually dismissed.
“We had an unhappy former employee,” Mark said of the shooting. “This happens whether it’s in a school in Connecticut or a movie theater in Colorado [...] You’re never prepared for this and you just pray that your people will be okay.”
In the wake of the attack, the hashtag "gun control" trended on twitter.
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