Vester flanagan, a former reporter at the station who grew up right here in the bay area. Flanagan posted his own video of the shooting. And later he killed himself as Police Closed in. Tonight, coworkers are remembering Alison Parker and her cameraman adam ward. Parker had just celebrated her 24th birthday. She had been at the station for a year. Ward had been at the local station for a few years. They were both thought of highly. They did great work every day and put their all into what they did. Im going to miss them. I heard one of my colleagues say alison was ambitious but in a good way, not ambitious to climb over people but ambitious to be successful with whatever it is she was assigned. Adam, um, was a wonderful person to be around. Consistently positive. A really good photojournalist, good shooter and editor. Vester flanagan was fired from the station in 2013. A picture is emerging of flanagan as an angry disgruntled employee nothing like the person people remembered back here in the bay area where he grew up. Joe vazquez reports from the flanagan home in vallejo where the family gave a statement. Reporter its a shock to everyone. Vester flanagan grew up in oakland and spent a few years in vallejo where most of his family lives. You know whats most shocking about the shooting is he himself was a reporter. We are getting our first glimpse of his resume reel, that is his collection of stories, the first clip of which might be a little jarring to see. Law enforcement officers have concerns. [ shots ] reporter flanagan graduated from Skyline High School in oakland went on to graduate from San Francisco state university. In 1996, he worked at our tv station kpix tv a Production Assistant and an intern in the newsroom before that. He has been a tv reporter in florida and virginia until he was fired. A short while ago a Family Member here in vallejo read a brief statement. It is with heavy hearts and deep sadness we express our deepest condolences to the families of Alison Parker and adam ward. We are also praying for the recovery of vicki gardner. Our thoughts and prayers at this time are with the victims families and with Wdbj Television station family. Thank you. Reporter clearly, they are also reeling about the fact that their own Family Member is accused of doing this and not to mention committed suicide. His father lives on the block. He was a Football Player at Humboldt State and a green bay packer under Vince Lombardi in the 60s. To a person everyone we talked to said the same thing. He was a gentle giant, soft spoken man, and they said they cant believe he would do this its so out of character. Thank you. Abc news in the meantime says it received a 23page fax from someone claiming to be the gunman saying he was attacked for being a gay black man. In a letter flanagan cites the june Church Shooting in charleston, South Carolina saying, the Church Shooting was the tipping point. But my anger has been building steadily. I have been a human powder keg for a while just waiting to go boom well spoken, very polite, educated, i never seen this coming. I dont know why i never seen it coming. Vester . Little vester . No. I mean, its right now i cant wrap my head around it right now. Its a nightmare. He is a family friend. They were neighbors in oakland since the 70s. We have a lot more information on the shooting on our website, cbssf. Com including the full interview with the gunmans bay area neighbor. Former 49er ray mcdonald and current player ahmad brooks have been indicted in santa clara county. Allen martin says the charges are connected to a party at mcdonalds house last december. Reporter very serious charges kickly against ray mcdonald. He is charged with raping a woman who was drunk at the party in december. The woman went public with the accusations saying mcdonald attacked after she slipped and fell at the pool party. But she filed a lawsuit and mcdonald countered claiming defamation. He was fired after the december incident. It was the second time he had run into trouble. Earlier in the year he was accused of roughing up his fiancee but no charges were filed. But also indicted current 49er linebacker ahmad brooks charged with misdemeanor Sexual Battery against the same woman that mcdonald is accused of raping. The 49ers are in denver for a preseason game. They have sent brooks home. We have yet to see any comment from the team on these charges. Lawyers for brooks and mcdonald have not commented on the charges either. Its just the latest in a series of off the field issues for the 9ers. The Team Released aldon smith after he had a runin with the law. He was arrested for driving under the influence as well as hitandrun. Not that it matters in this particular case but some of the best players are being caught up in this thing. Yeah. Indeed. So well see where the charges go for them. Thank you. Its been a pr nightmare for the San Francisco visitors bureau. A tourist taking pictures of the worlds crookedest street shot by a gun intent on stealing a camera and kate steinle shot and killed as she walked with her family on pier 14, another area packed with visitors. New at 6 00 tonight, kpix 5s phil matier says the city is doing damage control especially as it prepares to host super bowl 50. Phil. Reporter thats right. Let me give you a couple of statistics. Major Violent Crime in San Francisco is up 13 over the last year. Robberies up about 23 . Alone those stats wont make front page news but when the victims are tourists, everybody sits up and pays attention. Heres the story. Its not the image we want to portray for our guests. We want that message out loud and clear. Reporter city officials did their best today to reassure both the city and the world that despite two recent tourist shootings, San Francisco is safe. Were attacking gun violence in San Francisco as you know, were we are better than half what we were in 7 and 8. Homicides again are half what they were in 7 and 8. Reporter you dont see such a full force turnout for most shootings but then this time, the bad guys were caught and the victim was a tourist. When the image comes down you are in danger visit well traveled parts of town thats a real threat to the citys image and to the economy of San Francisco. Reporter no kidding tourism is a 10 billion a year business that employs some 90,000 people in the city. Theres nothing more potentially harmful to Tourism Industry than when your image goes bad. Reporter this summer it took a turn for the worst. First the faithle shooting after kate steinle as she was walking along the waterfront with her father. It was talked about around the world including the republican president ial debate. Reporter the next day this suspect is accused of robbing and beating a tv crew at gunpoint right next to the very pier where steinle was killed. I really worry about that, phil. I think that the potential negative image of San Francisco being an up safe place could be harmful. That could have been us. Reporter theres a negative image of San Francisco being an unsafe place that could be harmful. Reporter the city is still grappling with an understaffed Police Department so we dont have a definitive answer on how they might respond. Meanwhile as you can see behind us, tourists are here and hopefully they will have a good time and not be targets. In San Francisco, phil matier, kpix 5. New information now on the pier 14 shooting. At todays preliminary hearing, experts testified the bullet that hit kate steinle may have ricocheted. This detail is key in the defense argument that this shooting was accidental. Ballistics experts testified the bullet recovered from the crime scene was damaged on one side and it shows signs of hitting a hard surface or a very hard metal. We feel confident that the evidence that the court heard today confirms what we have been saying since the beginning of this case that this appears to be a death that resulted from the accidental discharge of a firearm. We make our charging decisions based on evidence. And its the same evidence that you have heard today in court as well as the other day. And based on the evidence, we believe that the charging decision is proper. Tomorrow the defense plans to call one more witness that will talk about whether or not the gun in the case could have misfired. New at 6 00 the costly controversial solution to oaklands teacher shortage. Kpix 5s da lin says the district wants to build Affordable Housing to attract more teachers but where could be a battle. Did you have a great summer . Reporter oakland educators say the housing crisis is partly why they are short on teachers this year. I couldnt afford to live on my own so i had to have a roommate. Reporter oakland teacher sarah wilborn and delaney hill say even with roommates they struggle financially. They spend more than half of their monthly wages on housing. A lot of time just sitting at home because i didnt have the money to go out. Im planning to get married in the next few years and our plans dont include bay area in our future because its so expensive to live here. [ music ] reporter thats why Oakland Unified School district is looking to buy this vacant land near lake merritt to build Affordable Housing for teachers. Anything we can do to make teaching more attractive option and teaching in oakland a more attractive option i think is something we should pursue. Reporter this land generated a lot of controversy in recent months. Neighbors shut down a city hall meeting after the city decided to sell the land to a developer to build luxury housing. Now that the city has again solicited office for the land, the School District wants in. This is something that i would bed from in applying for i would be interested in applying for. I would say please, pick me to live here. I know my rent isnt going to be 2,600 next year. Its going to be 28. Reporter its a brandnew idea for oakland unified but some districts in l. A. And other cities have already started building Affordable Housing for their teachers. In oakland, im da lin, kpix 5. Tonight the Oakland School board will be voting on whether to submit its intent to buy that property to the city. Another dead whale has been found here in the bay area. But this one is not on the beach. Now experts are trying to figure out how to move this massive mammal. And beating the bumperto bumper traffic rush. The bay area is clocking in at one of the worst commutes in the country. But soon more people could be floating by instead. And we continue to follow breaking news tonight. A strip mall fire in santa clara. Youre looking at live pictures from chopper 5. White oak lane and lawrence expressway are closed to traffic. Pg e crews working to shut off pg e crews working to shut off a gas main that [female announcer] if the most is the staying awake part, day sleep train has your ticket to a better nights sleep. Because when brands compete, you save during mattress price wars. Save up to 400 on beautyrest and posturepedic. Get interestfree financing until 2018 on tempurpedic. Plus, helpful advice from the sleep experts. Dont miss mattress price wars at sleep train. Sleep train your ticket to a better nights sleep all right. Lets take a live look now at the commute home. Drivers, um, moving along right now. The San Francisco bay area has some of the worst traffic in the United States. Believe it or not. It is the down side of a booming economy. Roads in the u. S. Are more clogged than ever before. And according to the a new study, the cities with worst traffic tieups are washington, dc which comes in first, then los angeles number 2. But the San Franciscooakland area is right behind them at number 3. Commuters spend an average of 78 hours stuck in traffic. San jose is fifth on the list and drivers waste an average of 67 hours stuck in traffic a year of the its not just the bay area roads seeing heavy traffic. The ferry lines are getting longer and longer these days. New at 6 00, kpix 5s Mike Sugerman tells us what Ferry Services are doing to deal with this commute crunch. Reporter well, veronica, there are more people in the cars here on the embarcadero. Theres also more people on the boats that leave from here. And they are doing something about that. Its been a long day. [ horn ] reporter sit back, relax and enjoy the ride on what could be among the most spectacular Public Transit commutes anywhere. It is a different kind of commute. Its probably the only Transit Agency in the bay area where on your way home or to work you can get a drink if the sea sickness of doesnt get you first. Youre packed in with european and midwestern tourists, sort of nice way to get to work, also a tourist attraction. No one sits on the 880 as a tourist. Reporter the cross bay commute can be a bear. Im on highway 4, 242, 680, 24, 580, and then bay bridge 80. Reporter too bad the captain cant take his own ferry to work like 2. 1 million others do. Thats up 8 over the area before. Watch your step. Reporter so much so they actually line up out the door and sometimes have to cut it off during heavy commutes. Once you get if the line in the very beginning, youre probably standing. Also in the night games for the giants, like the commuter people plus all the giants fans, thats hairy and you dont want to be on the ferry. Were filling up boats this vessel in particular, well fill it up easily leaving passengers commuters at the ferry building. Reporter it got so bad commuters circulated petitions. 300 riders demanding more service. It worked. We appreciated that. We responded to it by making these changes. Reporter Ernest Sanchez of the Ferry Service says there are three new trips, two to vallejo one to alameda and oakland one in the commute hours close to a Million Dollars cost. Theres the line. Im guessing thats for the 6 35 ferry to oakland. Now, this money almost a Million Dollars is going to bring boats online through october. Then they are going to have to come up with something else. In San Francisco, Mike Sugerman, kpix 5. Speaking of on the water another dead whale has been spotted in the bay area but this time in a pretty unusual place. Kpix 5s Juliette Goodrich is in the east bay right now alongside the latest discovery. Juliette, seems a week doesnt go by we dont have one of these floaters. Reporter yeah. But this is very interesting in an estuary in alameda. Its the first, ken. We are feet away from the dead whale. We got special access to be on the dock. You can see it behind me. You know, the odor is very strong and distinct. At first we had trouble spotting the whale in the maria area but the smell is what helped us find it. Its shocking. It really is. Its not anything you want to start your day. Reporter christina write works at the mariners square where the dead whale surfaced this morning. Its something to see and smell. It definitely has gotten progressively worse. Reporter she says researchers tried to measure the dead whale but its too difficult to access. The whale is it stuck under the dock in fact over here you can see how its lodged in between the pier and under the dock we pan over you can see how the whales tail is on the other side of the dock. The tide brought it in about 6 a. M. In the last few months dead whales have shown up on the california coastline but a dead whale on the estuary here is a first. Once in a while come up on the dock very infrequent. The whale is definitely nothing we expected. Reporter now, in just the last few minutes, the coast guard showed up and what theyre expected to do this evening is secure the whale so it doesnt drift back into the port of oakland and become a navigational hazard. So after they secure it then they will do the task of removing it. In alameda, Juliette Goodrich, kpix 5. Like we said on top there have been other dead whales on Northern California beaches this year. Three have washed ashore in pacifica and a fourth in half moon bay. Paul, of course, everybody is at home and wondering, why is this happening . Why are we seeing more dead whales . The interesting thing is from what i have read and from what scientists said there are not more whales dying. There are more whales dying closer to shore because the ocean water is about 5 degrees warmer than normal. The whales whether follow the food and the food is close to the shore because the warm water is close to the shore and when the die we are seeing it more along the coastline so more whales are not dying just dying closer to shore. Speaking of warm, very warm outside today close to 100 in san ramon. 97 was your high today. Napa 94. Almost at 990 in santa rosa and santa clara almost at 90 in santa rosa and santa clara. It wasnt warm everywhere. Love the bay area microclimates. Close to 100 in san ramon. 63 in daly city. There is nothing on the radar. Nor will there be for the next several days. We are entering territory with el nino that we have not seen since 199798. What did the late summer early fall in those other two strong el ninos do . We got above average rainfall but not by much. Normal rainfall for j