Page 22 - Jeff Marks News Today

And i fear and i hope they didnt see anything. but we dont know what they saw. two hours later, we found out these people had died. thinking about those two hours in between as well. >> describe what went down. the general manager described in part -- you see the reporter here, alison parker, interviewing the woman from the chamber of commerce. then you hear at least eight gunshots ring out. according to the general manager, the photographer, adam ward, was shot first. he fell to the ground. at ...

People spend long hours together. adam ward, the photographer was engaged to a morn producer at the station. it was her last day on the morning shift. >> she literally maybe saw her fiance shot? >> you hate to say it, but yes. allison parker was dating an anchor at the station as well. theyre all at work. the two surviving members of this relationships is. the station is now paying tribute. at 8:45 they came on the air. the general manager announced its been devastating for the whole staff, of c...

Up. >> i understand. >> but i will do my job. >> well, i appreciate your taking the time to talk with me, jeff marks. i appreciate it. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> before i take a break, i want to put up a clear photo of that suspect. this is from the video, from the camera of the man who died. you can see the mans face. you can see the gun. you can see thats pointed the gun at something. and this is the man that sheriffs deputies and fbi agents are looking at right now in the tiny town o...

The shots rang out. we do not know the motive. we do not know who the suspect -- or who the killer is. we do know that the franklin county sheriff, i just got off the phone with franklin county sheriff overton. i just got off the phone before that with the state police. they are working very diligently to track down both the motive and the person responsible for this terrible crime against two fine journalists. >> that was jeff marks. i talked to him earlier, in fact just about 15 minutes ago. a...

Lot of issues. he was hired two years ago. worked about eight months at station and let him go, that he was very difficult to work with, this according to the general manager and made climbs that racial statements had been made about him in the newsroom. the general manager said they investigated. he continued to make the allegations against numerous different employees. and that they just had a tough time with him in the newsroom and that they eventually let him go and that he did not want to l...

>> i think im going to step out of my role as a former journalist and say im not really sure whether i want him to live or die. if he dies, then he took the cowards way out. and if he lives, he goes on trial and goes to prison for the rest of his life. >> that was the general manager, jeff marks, talking right there. moments after that television station was notified that flanagan was alive. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams has been following this story from the d.c. bureau. pete, br...

And it helped. of course, i havent talked to trooper neff but it helped in this case. >> how instrumental was the video that was aired live and the image of his face that was captured? >> maam, i wont comment on that. i have not reviewed the video. ill defer to the sheriff. it is under investigation. >> sure. >> did that give you guys a lead of who that person was or did you already have a suspicion? >> we were able to from the investigation on scene and secured the scene, we were able to develo...

And eventually after many incidents of his anger coming to the fore, we dismissed him. he did not take that well. we had to call the police to escort him from the building. since then -- well, he then filed an action with the equal opportunity -- >> okay. that was the station manager from wdbj, jeff marks, talking about vester lee flanagan who on tv went by the name of bryce williams. he was the disgruntled employee that authorities believe carried out this horrific murder of two local reporters...

Shoots him or herself and state police tell us vester flanagan shot himself. very critical condition right now. this has been a tough morning as you can imagine at wdbj seven. jeff marks has been through with us. what more do you want to add, jeff? >> fearless. thats an interesting term because our reporters and photographers are generally fearless. they will go after any story and i want to thank a few people. one is the sheriff in overton and the state police and the other authorities who have...

There may have been one about alison or adam, i frankly dont remember. but about members of the staff making racial comments. he was african-american. none of them could be corroborated by anyone. we think they were fabricated. but just as an insurance policy, we went around and talked to all of our employees who might have been able to be exposed to this and we have a pretty diverse workplace. and we got nothing about that. and the equal employment opportunity commission dismissed that and that...