Wednesday morning, as we were posting a story on the Jorge Ramos/Donald Trump incident, we predicted the dust up in Iowa would be the journalism story of the day. At about the same time, near Roanoke, Virginia, a former employee of television station WDBJ was opening fire on two of his former colleagues.
At first the attack appeared random and anchors on the cable news networks leaned in their reporting toward the idea that this might be a new form of deadly menace. Instead of shootings in school yards and movie theaters; the violence was now turning toward journalists. There has been increased reporting lately on drunks and other trouble makers interfering with live shots as a form of entertainment. But by mid-morning it became evident this was more a case of workplace violence prompted by mental illness.
It is hard to look at the pictures of Alison Parker and Adam Ward and not be heartbroken. Both in their mid-20’s and living out their dreams in a business it appears they loved. When any young person dies it is hard to avoid thinking about all that has been taken away. Ward was about to get married, and Parker’s secret boyfriend(WDBJ’s evening anchor) announced after the shooting Wednesday that they had just moved in together. Who knows where their lives and careers would have taken them next? What have the rest of us been denied because they’re gone?
Their friends and colleagues were forced to watch their shocking deaths live – as if the murders happened right in front of them – but beyond their ability to intervene.
By Wednesday evening we began hearing more detail from the killer. In a fax sent to ABC News, Bryce Williams, also known as Vester Flanagan, said he had been a “powder keg waiting to go off” for sometime. Earlier in the day Tweets from former colleagues began to paint the picture of someone who was difficult to work with and showed signs of mental illness. Could he have been saved – and Wednesday’s shooting prevented – if someone had intervened with compassion several years ago?
