Journalist killings like deaths in the family for viewers

ROANOKE, Va. — The on-air murder of a popular television reporter and her cameraman during a morning live shot Wednesday hit residents like a death in the family in this small city surrounded by rolling mountains and cattle fields.

"Every morning we watch these people on TV, it's like they're part of your family," said Donna Toliver, who lives across the street from WDBJ television station. She spent most of Wednesday afternoon speaking encouraging words to station employees and watching them speak to reporters from around the country and across the world.

WDBJ staff observed a moment of silence Thursday in memory of journalists Alison Parker and Adam Ward, who were gunned down while conducting an interview about tourism. The silence, at about 6.45 a.m., was at the same time that the two were shot. The station started broadcasting live for its morning show at 5 a.m. Thursday, beginning the newscast with an image of Parker and Ward accompanied by the words "In Memory."

The two were killed while conducting an interview with Vicki Gardner, an official of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce. Gardner was also shot but survived.

Police identified the shooter as Vester Flanagan, a former reporter at WDBJ known on-air as Bryce Williams. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after crashing the car he was driving while police were in pursuit. Many residents saw the shooting live on the morning news and later saw footage that appeared on Flanagan's Facebook and Twitter accounts that showed the attack from the shooter's perspective.

Shawn Hunter, a community activist in Roanoke, said he saw the Wednesday morning report and at first could not believe that Parker could have been the target. He'd been interviewed by all three journalists involved. Parker, in particular, made herself available to everybody in the community, and both she and Ward were known for their funny on-camera antics, Hunter said.

"You'd always see her in City Market," the downtown mall, he said. "She would be interviewing the mayor and you could walk up to her and say 'How are you doing Alison?' and she would let you take a picture with her."

She also participated in a Roanoke fundraiser, "Dancing with the Stars," where she coached dancers and performed. "She was like a celebrity," Hunter said.

Red heart-shaped balloons wafted in the wind over an array of flowers, plaques and photographs near the entrance to the WDBJ station in Parker and Ward's honor. Nearby, Roanoke resident Pamela Cook wiped tears from her eyes and sniffled as she described her feelings for the slain journalists.

"They had the biggest hearts, and you could tell that they loved the viewers," Cook said.

Watching them in the morning was "hilarious," she said. "They started my day off on a positive note."

Across the street, by a truck serving barbecue, a handwritten sign said "Donations accepted for the families of Alison Parker and Adam Ward at Baum's BBQ, sending love from our families to yours."

Steve Baum, who owns the barbecue truck, said local chef Jason Horn came up with the idea to provide food for station employees but the response was so great it turned into a fundraising effort. Within less than an hour of posting a message on Facebook, 2,000 people shared it, and Baum had 15 volunteers and hundreds of dollars worth of food donated by local grocery stores Sams' Club and Kroger.

"Everybody remembers the Virginia Tech shooting and that's still on their minds," Baum said, referring to the 2007 massacre in nearby Blacksburg, where a lone gunman killed 32 people.

A lot of WDBJ reporters graduate from Virginia Tech or the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, "so they're considered local," Baum said. "You see them shopping… at events and concerts. It's family."

Baum said he'll be back Thursday morning with fresh biscuits smothered in homemade sausage gravy for breakfast, and pulled chicken, rice and beans for lunch. Donations will benefit the families and funerals, he said.