Hate and Anger are not mental Illnesses

This week we have suffered additional senseless and tragic shootings of innocent people here in America.

This past Wednesday, Vester Flanagan II (aka:  Bryce Williams) executed two former co-workers from WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, VA.  Flanagan had a history of anger issues mostly stemming from his being both a black man and gay.  It appears his anger continued to grow over several years and between multiple jobs.  He had reached a point where common sayings or items and street names were viewed as racial attacks and taunts against him.  His hate grew right along with his anger and this week it reached a boiling point.

It has been reported that he considered the following as racial attacks:  seeing a watermelon on top of an ice chest at work, someone stating that it was time to “go into the field” before going out on location for their job, and someone saying the name of a street “Cotton Lane”.  He had filed a discrimination suit against another former employer claiming he was harmed due to being gay.  When that was dismissed and it was shown that there are other gays at the same employer, he changed the suit to racial discrimination.

Flannigan approached, after what appears to have been a planned attack, reporter Alison Parker and her cameraman Adam Ward while they were conducting a live interview of another person (all white) out in public for the morning show on the station.  He had taken issue with each of these two while he worked at the station, prior to being fired over his anger.  Video footage has been made public from not only the cameraman but also the shooter, who filmed the attack.  The shooter walked up and stood slightly behind and to the left of the cameraman.  The three people standing in front of him were all absorbed in the interview and did not notice him.  He pulled out his semi-automatic pistol and aimed it at Alison.  Then, it appears that he noticed that Adam had directed his camera away from the two ladies and was shooting a scene to the side.  Flanagan lowered his gun and waited for the cameraman to get the ladies back on camera before raising the gun again and beginning to shoot.

Via: Canada Free Press

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Prayers go out to the family and friends of Alison Parker and Adam Ward

[EDITORIAL] When Fellow Journalists Become News

Reporters and video journalists enter danger every day of the week. War zones in Iraq and Syria. Covering the drug wars in Mexico. In Third World countries where governments see the news media and reporters as threats to their power and murder them in cold blood.

But a shopping center in Moneta, doing a live television interview with a local chamber of commerce official?

That’s not supposed to be the case. Community journalism is all about covering city councils or boards of supervisors or school boards. Features on the 108-year-old Sunday School teacher. Profiles of World War II veterans. And, yes, cute puppy and kitten stories from the local humane society.

But sadly ... shockingly ... that’s not what happened Wednesday morning. WDBJ reporter Alison Parker was interviewing Vicki Gardner, president of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, as cameraman Adam Ward filmed. Suddenly, shots rang out. Parker screams; the camera drops to the ground; and viewers next see a shocked anchor back in the studio.

Parker, 24, was a native of Martinsville who had moved back to the area to work for the Roanoke station as a morning reporter. In the last several months, she’d been dating a fellow reporter, and they had been talking about marriage. Ward, 27, was a graduate of Virginia Tech and an avid Hokie. He was engaged to a producer at the station who was in the control booth back in Roanoke as images of the shooting came in. Gardner, a long-time booster of the Smith Mountain Lake business community, underwent surgery for gunshot wounds at a Roanoke hospital and was in stable condition Wednesday afternoon.

This world is crazy and upside down some days. Police officers aren’t supposed to get gunned down when they pull over a speeder on a desolate highway. A teacher and her classroom of first-graders aren’t supposed to be massacred at their desks. And community broadcast journalists doing a story about a local chamber of commerce’s efforts to boost local businesses aren’t supposed to be shot to death, live on the air.

Our thoughts and our prayers are with the families and friends of Parker and Adams; we also wish Gardner a speedy recovery. And our thoughts are with our colleagues at WDBJ as they deal with the loss of their friends and co-workers while simultaneously reporting the international news story they find themselves at the center of.

Peace be with you.

Via: The News and Advance

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Gunman who killed 2 former colleagues had long history of erratic workplace behavior

The disgruntled former television reporter who murdered two of his former colleagues during a live interview Wednesday morning had a long history of erratic behavior at various workplaces, including acting aggressively toward co-workers and claiming racism was behind uncomplimentary evaluations.

Vester Lee Flanagan, 41, killed himself while fleeing from police in northern Virginia hours after he fatally shot WDBJ reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27. A third victim of Flanagan, Vicki Gardner, was in stable condition early Thursday after undergoing surgery.

Flanagan, who reported under the name Bryce Williams, was hired by WDBJ, based in Roanoke, Va., in March 2012. He only lasted 11 months at the station, and The Roanoke Times reported that his outbursts alienated and terrified co-workers.

"He quickly gathered a reputation as someone who was difficult to work with," station president and general manager Jeff Marks told reporters Wednesday. Justin McLeod, a former WDBJ reporter, told the paper that Flanagan "had anger management issues that went beyond anger management."

"Photographers flat-out refused to work with him," McLeod added. "He called them all racists. He threw that word around a lot. Nobody believed it."

The disgruntled former television reporter who murdered two of his former colleagues during a live interview Wednesday morning had a long history of erratic behavior at various workplaces, including acting aggressively toward co-workers and claiming racism was behind uncomplimentary evaluations.

Vester Lee Flanagan, 41, killed himself while fleeing from police in northern Virginia hours after he fatally shot WDBJ reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27. A third victim of Flanagan, Vicki Gardner, was in stable condition early Thursday after undergoing surgery.

Flanagan, who reported under the name Bryce Williams, was hired by WDBJ, based in Roanoke, Va., in March 2012. He only lasted 11 months at the station, and The Roanoke Times reported that his outbursts alienated and terrified co-workers.

"He quickly gathered a reputation as someone who was difficult to work with," station president and general manager Jeff Marks told reporters Wednesday. Justin McLeod, a former WDBJ reporter, told the paper that Flanagan "had anger management issues that went beyond anger management."

"Photographers flat-out refused to work with him," McLeod added. "He called them all racists. He threw that word around a lot. Nobody believed it."

Via: Fox News

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