Virginia TV station WDBJ held a moment of silence during its morning news program on Thursday to honor the two station staffers who were gunned down live Wednesday during a live broadcast.
Reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were killed by a disgruntled ex-employee of the station while they were filming a remote segment in Roanoke, Virginia. Both Parker and Ward died as a result of their wounds. Vicki Gardner, who was being interviewed by Parker, was also wounded but survived.
The shooter fled the scene in his Ford Mustang, which police recovered after he dumped it in favor of a Chevy Sonic he rented earlier this month. Attempts to stop his vehicle were unsuccessful. He died at approximately 1:30 p.m. ET from self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
Shockingly, the shooter posted to social media while being pursued by police, including uploading graphic video of the murders. It was also revealed that he faxed a 23-page manifesto to ABC News the night before the incident. In the document, he said, “What sent me over the top was the church shooting. And my hollow point bullets have the victims’ initials on them.”
It is believed he was referring to the shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, in which a white supremacist killed nine members of a historically African-American church in June.