The suspect in an on-air shooting at WDBJ-TV has has died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after a high speed chase down Interstate 64.
He has been identified by authorities as Vester Lee Flanagan a former report who was known professionally as Bryce Williams
Authorities say he died at around 1:30 p.m. around seven hours after shooting and killing two of his former colleagues.
Becky Coyner with dispatch and records at the Augusta County Sheriff's Office said that 41-year-old Flanagan was from Roanoke.
Virginia State Police say he was seen in his vehicle at around 11:30 a.m. and attempted to pull him over.
He sped away and crashed after running off the road.
Police say he was found in the car with a gunshot wound and transported to a hospital where he died.
The Salisbury Daily Times reports that video also shows up on Williams' Facebook page and shows the killing from the shooter's point of view.
The gun is visible in the picture as the reporter is being shot.
The Franklin County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that video recorded by the station's camera shows the male suspect holding a weapon.
A spokesman for the Virginia TV station that saw two of its employees fatally shot on air describes the slain cameraman as WDBJ-TV's "go-to guy."
WDBJ spokesman Mike Morgan says 27-year-old Adam Ward was engaged to a producer at the station, Melissa Ott.
Morgan says Adam had been with the station for four years.
Morgan says: "Adam was our go-to guy. He pretty much was available to do anything that we asked. He did live shots during our morning show for several years."
Also killed in the incident - at 6:45 a.m. at a shopping center overlooking a manmade lake - was reporter Alison Parker, who was dating the station's 6 p.m. anchor, Chris Hurst.
Anchor Chris Hurst at the Virginia TV station that saw two of its employees fatally shot on air says he was in love with the reporter who died and that they wanted to get married.
Hurst says in tweets that although the two didn't share their relationship publicly, they were in love and had just moved in together.
Hurst tweeted: "We were together almost nine months. It was the best nine months of our lives. We wanted to get married. We just celebrated her 24th birthday."
He also tweeted about the second victim, Ward, saying that Parker "worked with Adam every day. They were a team. I am heartbroken for his fiance'."
Hurst described the TV station as a family, tweeting: "I am comforted by everyone at WDBJ7."
After the on-air fatal shooting of two employees of a central Virginia TV station, the general manager appeared on air and called it a terrible crime.
WDBJ-TV general manager Jeffrey A. Marks called the Wednesday morning incident at a shopping center "a terrible crime against two fine journalists."
Marks said on air at the time that neither the station nor officials knew the motive for the shooting or any identify of a suspect.
In the video of the incident, as the camera falls to the ground, it captures a fleeting image of a man in black pants and a blue top who appears to be holding a handgun.
Marks said on air: "I cannot tell you how much they were loved. Alison and Adam."
"Our hearts are broken."
Video
Video shows the fatal shooting of two TV station employees who were killed in an on-air shooting in central Virginia.
In the video from the Wednesday incident, a female reporter is interviewing someone about tourism on Bridgewater Plaza in Franklin County. She was smiling when suddenly at least eight shots were heard. The camera appeared to be dropped on the ground. The reporter can be heard screaming.
As the camera falls to the ground, it captures a fleeting image of a man in black pants and a blue top who appears to be holding a handgun.
The station then switches back to a shot of an anchor back at the station, who has a shocked expression on her face.
In tweets and on its website, WDBJ-TV identified the two killed as reporter Parker and cameraman Ward.
The station is based in Roanoke, Virginia, and serves the southwest and central part of the state. The shopping mall where the incident happened is just off Smith Mountain Lake.
Moneta is about 25 miles southeast of Roanoke.
Parker
According to the station website, Parker was a morning reporter. She graduated from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and was news editor of its recognized newspaper, The Breeze. She also had been an intern at WDBJ-TV.
The TV station also linked to her Facebook page, which says Parker spent most of her live outside Martinsville, Virginia.
Parker previously worked at WCTI NewsChannel 12 in Jacksonville, North Carolina, near Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. She was an avid kayaker and attended community theater events in her spare time.
The station says Ward was 27 and a graduate of Virginia Tech.
