Murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward

On the morning of August 26, 2015, WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and photojournalist Adam Ward were conducting a live interview with Vicki Gardner, executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, at Bridgewater Plaza in Moneta, Virginia. At 6:46 a.m. EDT, during the live broadcast, a gunman opened fire, firing a total of fifteen shots. Parker, 24, and Ward, 27, died at the scene. Parker died from gunshot wounds to her head and chest, and Ward died from wounds to his head and torso, according to the state medical examiner's office. Gardner was shot in the back after curling into a fetal position to try to play dead; she survived after surgery at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, during which her right kidney and part of her colon were removed.

The gunman was identified as Vester Lee Flanagan II, 41, a former WDBJ multimedia journalist who had worked under the professional name Bryce Williams and had been fired by the station on February 1, 2013, for volatile behavior. WDBJ newsroom staff reviewed footage from Ward's fallen camera, which briefly captured an image of the shooter holding a Glock 19 pistol, and identified Flanagan as the likely gunman. Flanagan sent a fax to ABC News and made a phone call confessing to the shootings before a five-hour manhunt ensued. Authorities tracked his cellphone and located his rented vehicle via an automated license plate reader on Interstate 66 near Markham, Virginia. During the ensuing pursuit, Flanagan's car ran off the road and struck an embankment; he was found with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and was airlifted to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:26 p.m.

Flanagan had a documented history of workplace conflict, including a 2013 confrontation during his dismissal from WDBJ and an EEOC discrimination complaint that was investigated and dismissed as uncorroborated. On the day of the shooting, he uploaded a first-person video of the attack to social media and sent a lengthy document to ABC News describing grievances of alleged racial discrimination and sexual harassment, referencing the 2015 Charleston church shooting as a "tipping point," and expressing admiration for perpetrators of other mass shootings.

The killings prompted widespread public reaction, including condolences from President Barack Obama and Virginia officials, renewed debate over gun control led by Governor Terry McAuliffe, and advocacy by Alison Parker's father, Andy Parker, on gun violence prevention and combating the online spread of the murder footage. Media outlets faced criticism over decisions to broadcast or publish images from the shooter's video. In 2017, Vicki Gardner filed a $6 million civil suit against WDBJ alleging negligent hiring of Flanagan; the suit was dismissed by a Franklin County Circuit Court on June 26, 2020. Memorial scholarships were later established in honor of both Parker and Ward at their respective alma maters.