Murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward
| Murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward | |
|---|---|
| Location | Bridgewater Plaza Moneta, Virginia, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 37°08′36″N 79°40′13″W / 37.14330°N 79.67027°W |
| Date | August 26, 2015
|
| Target | Alison Parker and Adam Ward |
Attack type | Shooting, murder–suicide |
| Weapons | 9mm Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol |
| Deaths | 3 (including the perpetrator) |
| Injured | 1 |
| Perpetrator | Vester Lee Flanagan II (aka Bryce Williams) |
| Motive | Perceived workplace animosity and racial prejudice, supposed revenge for the Charleston church shooting |
On the morning of August 26, 2015, news reporter Alison Parker and photojournalist Adam Ward, both employees of CBS affiliate WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia, United States, were fatally shot while conducting a live television interview near Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta. They were interviewing Vicki Gardner, executive director of the local chamber of commerce, when all three were attacked by a gunman in a shooting. Parker, age 24, and Ward, age 27, died at the scene, while Gardner survived.
The gunman was 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan II, a former reporter at WDBJ who had been fired in 2013 for disruptive conduct. After a five-hour manhunt, Flanagan shot himself in the head during a car chase with police officers and died later at a hospital.