Alison Parker and Adam Ward were shot and killed by 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan during a live broadcast for WDBJ7 near Roanoke, Va. Wednesday morning.
Here’s everything we know about the slain victims. (RELATED: GRAPHIC: Coward Filmed Himself Gunning Down Reporters)
(Photo: Facebook)
Alison Parker, 24
Parker grew up in Martinsville, Va., and later graduated from James Madison University’s School of Media Arts and Design in 2012.
She previously worked for a CNN affiliate station in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
She had been dating anchorman Chris Hurst for nine months, and the two recently moved in together.
(Photo: Facebook)
(Photo: Twitter)
In a series of tweets, Hurst said Parker was “the most radiant woman” he had ever met and that he was “numb.”
(Photo: Twitter)
Parker was a dancer and had a dog named Jack.
(Photo: Facebook)
(Photo: Facebook)
Brad Jenkins is the general manager of James Madison’s student newspaper “The Breeze,” where Parker worked during her college days, and he said she was one of the most promising journalists the school had ever seen.
“She was an excellent journalist,” Jenkins said. “I pictured seeing her on national news one day — she was that good. She had the ‘it’ factor.”
“She was so dedicated to just getting the story. She was a dogged reporter, but she was kind. She was always drawn to breaking news.”
Adam Ward, 27
Ward was a photojournalist who went to Salem High School before attending college at Virginia Tech and graduating in 2011.
He proposed to his girlfriend Melissa Ott in December and they were supposed to get married next summer.
Ott is the morning show producer and was in the control room at WDBJ7 when the shooting happened.
(Photo: Facebook)
Ward was a big fan of his alma mater’s football team.
(Photo: Facebook)
“Adam was a delightful person. He worked hard – you could tell he loved what he was doing,” Ward’s former college professor said in a statement.
“He wasn’t afraid to pitch in and do whatever was necessary for the broadcast. He did whatever was needed with a smile and with grace. He was simply a very nice young man and very professional.”
(Photo: Facebook)
Ward and Parker were in the middle of interviewing Vicki Gardner, who is the executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, about the 50th anniversary of Smith Mountain Lake when the shooter opened fire.
Gardner was shot in the back and is now in surgery.
UPDATE: Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital is reporting that Gardner is out of surgery and in stable condition.
