Man who shot Virginia journalists on live TV dies of self-inflicted wound

UPDATE: The man suspected of shooting two television journalists this morning while the cameras rolled during an on-air segment has died. Officials say Vester Lee Flanagan II shot himself while fleeing from police. They discovered the injury after he crashed his car during a high-speed chase.

Flanagan killed WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward and injured the woman Parker was interviewing, Vicki Gardner. She was rushed into surgery at a local hospital and is expected to survive.

Jeffrey Marks, WDBJ's president and general manager, said Flanagan worked as a reporter at the station until earlier this year. He described him as an "unhappy man" who was "difficult to work with" and always "looking out for people to say things he could take offense to."

He was fired after multiple angry outbursts. Flanagan, who went by Bryce Williams on air, filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Parker. It eventually was dismissed as unsubstantiated. Ward had previously filed a complaint with the station's human resources department against Flanagan.

During the last few weeks, someone identifying himself as Bryce Williams called ABC News several times saying he had a story to pitch. A few hours after the shooting, ABC received a 23-page fax from someone claiming to be Flanagan and turned it over to authorities. Part manifesto, part suicide note, the document said he was a "human powder keg" set off by the racially motivated shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, S.C., in June. He claimed he was the victim of workplace harassment because he was a gay, black man. He also expressed admiration for several mass killers, including Columbine High School shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho.

UPDATE (12:30 p.m. EDT): WDBJ7 now reports that Vester Lee Flanagan II, the suspect in the fatal on-air shooting of two journalists this morning, survived his suicide attempt and is in critical condition, according to state police.

UPDATE (12 p.m. EDT): The suspect in the fatal on-air shooting of a reporter and cameraman in central Virginia has killed himself, according to local news reports.

Officials identified 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan II, of Roanoke, Va., as the suspected shooter. He led police on a highway chase this morning before committing suicide on Interstate 66 in Fauquier County, Va., WDBJ7 reported.

Flanagan previously worked as a reporter for WDBJ and went by the name Bryce Williams on the air. A Twitter account under Williams’ name this morning featured complaints about co-workers Alison Parker and Adam Ward, the two journalists who were killed in the shooting. One tweet read, “I filmed the shooting see Facebook.” A video posted on his Facebook page and Twitter feed, since removed, showed the attack from the shooter's perspective.

OUR EARLIER STORY (10:25 a.m. EDT): Police have identified and are pursuing a suspect in this morning’s on-air shooting of two TV journalists in rural Virginia.

The shooter shot and killed Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27. Parker was conducting an interview at a lakeside shopping center in Moneta, Va.

Parker was interviewing Vicki Gardner with the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce, WSLS 10 in Roanoke, Va., reported. There is no word on Gardner’s condition.

Station general manager Jeffrey A. Marks called the Wednesday morning incident “a terrible crime against two fine journalists.”

Marks said on-air that neither the station nor officials know the motive for the shooting. He says he has talked with authorities and they are working diligently to find out. Police have not given the name of the suspect. CNN reported that police have the name and license plate number of the suspect, while another Virginia station, WHSV, reported police were in pursuit of the suspect.

The station, WDBJ, is based in Roanoke, Va., and serves the southwest and central part of the state.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.