By Dave Workman
Senior Editor
UPDATED 8/27: The man allegedly responsible for the on-air slaying of a Virginia television reporter and cameraman apparently claimed in a 23-page fax to ABC News that the Charleston church shooting had “sent me over the top.”
The Washington Times headlined a report saying that the gunman claimed that “Jehovah spoke to him” after the Charleston shooting, which left nine people dead, and told him to act.
ABC News also reported that the suspect, Vester Lee Flanagan II, who went by the on-air name of Bryce Williams, allegedly “put down a deposit” on a handgun two days after the church shooting.
However, even before all the facts were in, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe was talking about gun control, and specifically background checks, in the wake of the horrific on-air fatal shooting of the news team during a live-shot interview broadcast by WDBJ in Roanoke.
And in an emotional on-air interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, the father of slain WDBJ reporter Alison Parker in Virginia vowed to make it his life’s mission to close “the loopholes in background checks” so that “crazy people” cannot get their hands on firearms.
Andy Parker, Alison’s father, told Kelly forcefully, “My mission in life, and I talked to the governor today, he called me, and I told him, I said I’m going to do something, whatever it takes, to get gun legislation, to shame people, to shame legislators, into doing something about closing loopholes in background checks and making sure crazy people don’t get guns. He said ‘You go, I’m right there with you. So, this is not the last you’ve heard of me.”
McAuliffe was quoted by both the Washington Post and Washington Times stating, “There are too many guns in the hands of people who should not have guns…That is why I’ve long advocated for background checks.”
The Times also quoted McAuliffe asserting, “I’m a gun owner, I’m a hunter. But you know what? I went through background checks myself … in America, we have got to come together. There is too much gun violence in the United States of America.”
McAuliffe wasn’t alone pushing gun control. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters after the shooting, “As you’ve heard me say in the past, this is another example of gun violence that is becoming all too common in communities large and small across the United States. And while there is no piece of legislation that will end all violence in this country, there are some common-sense things that only Congress can do that we know would have a tangible impact in reducing gun violence in this country and Congress could take those steps in a way that would not infringe on the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans and the president has long advocated congress taking those steps.”
Others, including Democratic presidential aspirant Hillary Rodham Clinton, also jumped on the gun control bandwagon in the hours after the grisly shooting.
But according to ABC News and CBS News, the suspect’s gun was legally purchased at a Roanoke gun store in July. He would have had to complete a background check, and ABC reported that the gunman had no known criminal background.
Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were fatally shot as they interviewed Vicki Gardner, a representative of the Smith Mountain lake Regional Chamber of Commerce. The suspect, identified as Vester Lee Flanagan, who recorded the shooting with a personal video camera. That video and the WDBJ news clip streaked across social media.
Gardner was seriously wounded in the shooting, and underwent surgery at a local hospital. She is expected to recover.
Flanagan, according to published reports, had worked at WDBJ for about a year but was dismissed in 2013. He reportedly filed a lawsuit against the station in May 2014 on grounds of discrimination, but that was dismissed in July 2014.
In the Flanagan video, 13or 14 shots can be heard, while in the live shot audio from Ward’s camera, eight shots are clearly heard. The first rounds were fired at Parker from just a few feet away, and it appears that the gunman hesitated at one point because Ward had turned his camera lens away from the two women. Once he had returned focus on Parker and Gardner, the Glock semi-auto in the suspect’s hand can clearly be seen and he opened fire.
Flanagan, who is black, had reportedly filed a complaint against another television station where he worked previously in Florida.
An Associated Press report quoted WDBJ president and General Manager Jeffrey Marks explaining that Flanagan had been “difficult to work with” and apparently was “looking out for people to say things he could take offense to.” When he was dismissed, Marks said, “he did not take that well.”
