Community mourns slain journalists killed on live TV in Virginia

VIRGINIA — “They were just doing their job.”

Those sentiments were repeated over and over again by people across the country Wednesday after a reporter and photojournalist were killed during an early morning live shot in Franklin County, Virginia by a disgruntled former colleague.

The live shot by reporter Alison Parker and photographer Adam Ward was nothing out of the ordinary: They were interviewing a local official at an outdoor shopping mall for a tourism story.

The two worked for WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Virginia.

Then, at about 6:45 a.m., morning show viewers saw Parker suddenly scream and run, crying "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.

[WATCH: Who was Alison Parker?]

WDBJ quickly switched back to the anchor at the station, her eyes large and jaw dropping as she said, "OK, not sure what happened there." The station later went live again, reporting on their own staff as the story developed.

Parker and Ward died at the scene after the gunman fired about 15 shots. Their interview subject, Vicki Gardner, was in stable condition later Wednesday after surgery for her wounds.

Authorities identified the gunman as Vester Lee Flanagan II, 41, who appeared on WDBJ as Bryce Williams. He had evidently been planning the attack for some time, authorities said.

[READ: What we know about the slain WDBJ journalists]

Video posted on Bryce Williams' Twitter account and Facebook page hours later showed an outstretched arm holding the handgun. The shooter walked up to the victims and stood a few feet away, but with all three in the midst of the live TV interview, none seemed to notice.

Flanagan waited until Ward's camera was pointed at Parker, and then fired repeatedly.

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As he fled, Flanagan switched vehicles, picking up a rental car he had previously reserved at an airport. Troopers caught up with him hours later and hundreds of miles away after he fatally shot himself and ran off the road.

He was pronounced dead at 1:30 p.m.

Flanagan was described by Jeffrey Marks, WDBJ's president and general manager as an "an unhappy man" and "difficult to work with," always "looking out for people to say things he could take offense to."

"Eventually after many incidents of his anger coming to the fore, we dismissed him. He did not take that well," Marks explained, adding that police had to escort him out of the station when he was fired.

Longtime Savannah, Georgia television anchor Dawn Baker worked with Flanagan at one point and remembers how eager he was.

“I am just stunned today,” Baker told Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes. “He is the last person that I would ever think would do something like this.”

Baker said she knew Flanagan had a temper, but never thought he’d eventually kill his co-workers.

She said she fears other disgruntled employees that might be out there.

“Some people left with ill feelings toward the station that we might not be aware of,” Baker said.

Ward, 27, was engaged to a producer at the station, Melissa Ott, who was celebrating her last day on the job. She was producing the live newscast when her fiancé was shot on the air in front of her.

Parker, 24, had recently moved in with another co-worker, WDBJ anchor Christ Hurst.

Hurst wrote online that they hadn't shared their relationship publicly but "were very much in love." He said they had just moved in together and wanted to get married. "I am numb," he said.

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Parker was raised in the Martinsville, Virginia, area and joined the station as an intern after attending James Madison University, where she was the editor of the school's newspaper, The Breeze.

Others at the station said it was particularly hard for Ott, who watched the shooting unfold from the control room.

"Adam was our go-to guy. He pretty much was available to do anything that we asked," said WDBJ spokesman Mike Morgan. "He did live shots during our morning show for several years."

ABC News reported that a man claiming to be Williams called the network, saying he had just shot two people, and was faxing them a 23-page document. That document is being analyzed by investigators, Franklin County Sheriff W.Q. "Bill" Overton Jr. said at a news conference.

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According to the network, the man claiming to be Flanagan said in the "suicide note" that he bought a gun two days after the Charleston, South Carolina church shootings, seeking revenge for racial discrimination, sexual harassment and workplace bullying he said he suffered as a gay black man.

"This gentleman was disturbed at the way things had turned out at some point in his life. Things were spiraling out of control," Overton said.

“Our hearts are broken and our sympathies go to the entire staff here and to the parents of Alison Parker and Adam Ward who were out here just doing their jobs,” Marks announced on air about the deaths.

Williams worked at WDBJ for a year in 2012 and at Savannah's WTOC-TV from 1997-1999.

Both Parker and Ward were described as genuine, good people by their colleagues during the station's broadcast.

"We just feel a sense of loss... we lost two members of our families," said one of the news anchors.

The property outside the studios of WDBJ-TV has turned into a tribute to slain reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward.

Dozens of balloons and flower arrangements dotted the property leading to the front door.

Reporters from multiple media outlets gathered for a late afternoon news conference at the station with Marks and news director Kelly Zuber.

Zuber says the station is setting up scholarships at the alma maters of Parker and Ward. Parker graduated from James Madison University and Ward went to Virginia Tech.

Marcia Burdick, senior vice president of broadcasting at WDBJ parent company Schurz Communications of South Bend, Indiana, says the National Association of Broadcasters has taken the lead in setting up a fund for the families of Parker and Ward.

Refresh this page for updates on this developing story.

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