Police are seeking a former WDBJ reporter in connection with the shooting deaths of a reporter and photographer on live television Wednesday
A manhunt is underway for a gunman who killed a local news reporter and photographer on live television on Wednesday morning during a routine interview outside Moneta, Virginia.
Alison Parker was interviewing a woman at about 6:45 a.m. when shots rang out. Both women screamed. As the camera fell to the ground, the audience caught the briefest glimpse of a man who appeared to point a gun toward the downed cameraman.
The station cut away to a shocked anchor, Kimberly McBroom, back in the studio. Parker, 24, and photographer Adam Ward, 27, were killed in the shooting at Bridgewater Plaza near Moneta, the station, WDBJ-TV, reported later. Ward’s fiancée was in the control room and saw the shooting, WDBJ General Manager Jeff Marks told CNN.
The woman being interviewed, Vicki Gardner, executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, was shot in the back, said Barb Nocera, the chamber’s special projects manager.
The gunman is believed to have fired six or seven times, Marks said. He remains on the loose. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has joined in the manhunt, while the ATF and FBI are participating in the investigation. Area schools are on lockdown.
Authorities know the identity of the man believed to be the shooter, a law enforcement official told CNN. “We do not know the motive. We do not know who the killer is,” Marks said. “We do know the Franklin County sheriff … they are working very diligently to track down both the motive and the person responsible for this terrible crime against two fine journalists,” he said during the station’s coverage of the shooting. “Our hearts are broken,” Marks further said. “We have people walking around here in tears, lots of hugs.”