Two journalists killed in full live America reeling

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- By Laure Mandeville , graphics Service du Figaro
- Update on 26/08/2015 at 21:03
- Published on 26/08/2015 at 17:45

Alison Parker and James Ward were killed Wednesday morning when they were filming a TV show.

VIDEO / GRAPHICS - Alison Parker, 24, and James Ward, 27, reporters from a local TV station in Virginia, were killed by bullets in the issue Wednesday morning. The gunman, a former employee of the chain, then committed suicide after being filmed and broadcast images of the killing.

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From our correspondent in the US

It is 6:45 am in Moneta, a small town from the depths of Virginia and Alison Parker, 24, is interviewing Vicky Gardner, the owner of the local chamber of commerce, announcing a series of events for to promote the tourism potential of the lake. Alison smiles at the camera, holding his microphone to his interlocutor. But suddenly, a shot fired in the direction we hear the two women and several others. Alison screams and tries to run away, disappearing from the field of view while Vicky Gardner moved. At the other end of the line, we see the presenter of the small local chain WDBJ7 resume aback antenna, without understanding what is happening.

She'll know a few seconds later that Alison Parker and her cameraman Adam Ward, 27, died, killed in cold blood while Vicky Gardner is injured and transported to the local hospital. She needed surgery but his life was not in danger, according to the authorities, in the early evening.

With this surreal assassination live on-air - including a video was available on the Internet before being removed - the small community of Moneta, Virginia and America plunged into horror and amazement. "How the killer he was able to fly to these families, those of Alison and Adam, their lives, their happiness and their love ?, told, broken, the director Jeffrey Marks chain. They illuminated the press room every morning ... "

The shooter was a former employee of the chain

As he fell to the bullets of the killer, the cameraman, Adam Ward, who seems to have continued to hold the camera in a last professional reflex set a fleeting image of her killer. This is Vester Flanagan, a former reporter for the television station who was dismissed . After committing the murders, he fled by car, before being caught by the police a few hours later. He managed to commit suicide before being arrested. The authorities confirmed his death.

Vester Flanagan was known at the antenna under the name of Bryce Williams. He posted on Twitter and Facebook, two terrifying video of the crime, he would have filmed using a go-pro or a mobile phone, even when he went into action. It is no longer accessible. On these social networks, posted many pictures of him ourselves, at different times of his life, he commented a few sentences. As if he had chosen himself the pictures he wanted the media highlight. Then he will die, around 11 am, he takes the time to explain on Twitter have been the victim of racist statements on the part of the journalist he killed.

Fax ABC

A long 23-page fax, signed that same Bryce Williams, came to the drafting of the ABC chain two hours after his murder . He explained in this document committing his act in response to racist killing of Charleston . In this manifesto, he also expressed his admiration for the killers at Virginia Tech (shooting in a nearby university who had located 33 dead) and Columbine (high school where a shooting killed 12 people). He repeats have faced racial discrimination and sexual harassment at work. The authorities however warned that the mobile of his murder remained to establish clearly.

In recent months, Alison Parker, who had just finished his journalism studies and made his debut in the local station, shared the life of Chris Hurst, Evening newsreader on the same TV channel. "We had to move in together, we were in love, I'm paralyzed," tweeted her fiancé. Adam was meanwhile also engaged to a producer of the station, Melissa Ott.

The Democratic candidate for the White House Hillary Clinton said she was "devastated and angry" on Twitter. "We must act to stop the violence by firearms and we can not wait." The spokesman Obama called on Congress to legislate .