Gunman Blames Racism After He Kills Two Young Journalists on Live TV UPDATE: Charleston Church Shooting ‘Sent Me Over the Top,’ Killer Claims

Posted on | August 26, 2015 | 77 Comments

Vester Flanagan, a/k/a Bryce Williams

Alison Parker and Adam Ward of WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Virginia, were doing a live broadcast this morning when a disgruntled former employee of the station approached and shot them both dead with a semi-automatic pistol. Vester Flanagan, who had worked for WDBJ-TV using the on-air name “Bryce Williams,” posted a video of his crime, along with Twitter messages saying that Parker had made racist comments and that Ward had reported him to the station’s human resources office — an apparent reference to the circumstances of Flanagan’s firing. After fleeing the scene of the double homicide and being pursued by police, Flanagan fatally shot himself. The killer had a troubled past, NBC News reports:

The general manager of the station, WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia, said that Flanagan had a reputation as “being difficult to work with” and was fired because of anger problems. . . .
Flanagan had a two-decade career at a string of local television stations. . . .
KPIX, the CBS station in San Francisco, said that Flanagan worked there as an intern and a writer from 1993 to 1995. An employee at WTOC in Savannah, Georgia, confirmed that Flanagan worked there in the late 1990s.
And in 2000, Flanagan sued a Florida station that had fired him, alleging racial discrimination, according to a newspaper report at the time.
“Vester was an unhappy man,” Jeff Marks, the general manager of WDBJ, said on the station’s noon newscast. “He had a reputation for being difficult to work with.”
Marks said that Flanagan was fired “after many incidents of his anger coming forward” and was escorted from the building by police.

David French at National Review cautioned against viewing this as a racial incident, although it now seems clear that the gunman himself viewed it that way. This is the problem with identity politics: If someone has personal problems, and they can find a political ideology that seems to explain those problems, then the “personal is political,” as radical feminist Carol Hanisch famously said, and who are we to argue? If someone says they are a victim of racism, sexism or homophobia, and then they use claims of victimhood to justify violence, how seriously should we take their political arguments? It’s a hall of mirrors. If we say Vester Flanagan was just a disgruntled kook, what does that make Al Sharpton? Isn’t he just a more successful disgruntled kook?

UPDATE: ABC News reports:

In the 23-page document faxed to ABC News, the writer says “MY NAME IS BRYCE WILLIAMS” and his legal name is Vester Lee Flanagan II.” He writes what triggered today’s carnage was his reaction to the racism of the Charleston church shooting:
“Why did I do it? I put down a deposit for a gun on 6/19/15. The Church shooting in Charleston happened on 6/17/15…”
“What sent me over the top was the church shooting. And my hollow point bullets have the victims’ initials on them.” . . .
In an often rambling letter to the authorities, and family and friends, he writes of a long list of grievances. In one part of the document, Williams calls it a “Suicide Note for Friends and Family.”
He says has suffered racial discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying at work
He says he has been attacked by black men and white females
He talks about how he was attacked for being a gay, black man
“Yes, it will sound like I am angry…I am. And I have every right to be. But when I leave this Earth, the only emotion I want to feel is peace….”
“The church shooting was the tipping point…but my anger has been building steadily…I’ve been a human powder keg for a while…just waiting to go BOOM!!!!”

So he was black and gay, but it was mainly the racism he was angry about? These disgruntled killers seldom bother to edit their manifestos very carefully, which might have something to do with why they’re disgruntled. We probably shouldn’t expect coherent prose from homicidal maniacs, I guess

Category: Crime, Racism

Comments

77 Responses to “Gunman Blames Racism After He Kills Two Young Journalists on Live TV UPDATE: Charleston Church Shooting ‘Sent Me Over the Top,’ Killer Claims”

CPAguy
August 26th, 2015 @ 2:51 pm

Crazy people doing crazy stuff.

Not racial at all…but kooks from various sides will take it that way.
RKae
August 26th, 2015 @ 2:51 pm

And the new element… (Drum roll, please!) …He was gay.

This is going to be a circus as the media try to back their way out of it.
Finrod Felagund
August 26th, 2015 @ 2:53 pm

Personally I think the term ‘disgruntled kook’ describes a majority of Democrats these days.
RKae
August 26th, 2015 @ 2:58 pm

Isn’t it the very essence of being a Social Justice Warrior?
CPAguy
August 26th, 2015 @ 3:02 pm

He was upset that black men “bullied” him.
RS
August 26th, 2015 @ 3:10 pm

They guy have have used the “race card” in an effort to provide a patina of “nobility” for his actions, but I bet in reality, he was just another loser who was frustrated at his inability to make the big time. Instead he was a drifter among second and third tier TV markets and couldn’t hold a job. So, he decided to do the one thing guaranteed to make him famous.
RKae
August 26th, 2015 @ 3:10 pm

The whole damned thing is like a fistful of monkey wrenches into the gears of the media narrative.
RKae
August 26th, 2015 @ 3:16 pm

The thing about this that gives me a sense of dread is that he video-recorded the shooting and then posted it.

Great. Now that’ll be “a thing.”

When I was a kid, no one went into someplace, shot people, then shot themselves. They just simply shot themselves. Then killing people before you commit suicide became “a thing.”
gvanderleun
August 26th, 2015 @ 3:17 pm

David French is such a wall to wall floor to ceiling mangina.
Cole
August 26th, 2015 @ 3:36 pm

His problem was racism. His own.
trangbang68
August 26th, 2015 @ 3:52 pm

Extra, extra, read all about it, “Racist Degenerate murders Two Innocent People”. This headline will appear…..nowhere
Dianna Deeley
August 26th, 2015 @ 4:01 pm

” We probably shouldn’t expect coherent prose from homicidal maniacs, I guess”.

Most unfairly, I just flashed on John Cleese’s centurian in Life of Brian.

Yes, we can!
Art Deco
August 26th, 2015 @ 4:02 pm

He has a history of litigation that dates back 15 years, from the time he was 27, so it’s likely not just the accumulation of failures. I’d wager he had a history of interpersonal friction with people older than that.

We all come of age coping with our shortcomings and failures (and bad luck). Some people persuade themselves that their problem is that others have it in for them. That’s very seldom true ad seriatim, but a certain sort of person keeps doubling down. This guy was one particularly grand-guignol example, Amanda Marcotte is another, though in Marcotte’s mind, the enemy is more abstract.
Dianna Deeley
August 26th, 2015 @ 4:03 pm

Let’s hope not, but I recommend starting by not clicking on the links to his video.
Art Deco
August 26th, 2015 @ 4:04 pm

So he was black and gay, but it was mainly the racism he was angry about?

See G.J.M. van de Aardweg on the male homosexual as a character type. The sexual deviance and troublesome behavior within hierarchical organizations are manifestations of a conviction one has been injured (which might just be stoked by a conviction that one is Special).
Jeanette Victoria
August 26th, 2015 @ 4:11 pm

Two protected groups rolled up in one disgruntled degenerate. Who would have thought…..
texlovera
August 26th, 2015 @ 4:25 pm

What a coward.
Driver8
August 26th, 2015 @ 4:50 pm

Yeah, them blacks are a “protected” group! Same with da gays! I, as a straight white male, am really jealous of their “protected” and privileged status. Let me know when you get back to reality.
Jeanette Victoria
August 26th, 2015 @ 4:55 pm

Oh look it’s a troll!
Driver8
August 26th, 2015 @ 4:56 pm

The police are the only protected group, and generally unaccountable for murder, and numerous other crimes, and civil rights violations. Yeah, a cop gets arrested sometimes when there happens to a video of the incident(but not always), but how many incidents happen that are written up for the point of view of cops, and pushed under the rug.
Driver8
August 26th, 2015 @ 4:58 pm

Oh, right, I disagree with your completely ignorant point of view, and I’m a “troll”. Try defending your points next time.
Driver8
August 26th, 2015 @ 5:06 pm

Ever been to a NYC, or LA ghetto? Ever see how police view blacks? Ever look at the school systems in their neighborhoods, and the woefully low rates of graduation? Ever notice that for such a small population of people, they’re the most represented group in the prison system? Ever notice that no other group of people has suffered more institutional repression in this country? None of that says “protected” group of people.
CrustyB
August 26th, 2015 @ 5:15 pm

You have to wonder what his definition of “racism” is. In this day and age, someone probably asked for their coffee “black” or something.
Art Deco
August 26th, 2015 @ 5:19 pm

They are amply represented in the prison system due to facts on the ground. Slum schools are disagreeable places because of facts on the ground, because of the social ideology of the teacher’s college graduates in school administrations, because of the agitation of parents of lousy kids, because of the officious interference of the judiciary, and because of the officious interference of lawyers representing federal agencies or straw plaintiffs. You want better schools, you have to smack down the bar and the educrat nexus and reverse a series of clear policy choices. You want more congenial living conditions in slums, you need well staffed police forces primed to do their jobs. The result of both these factors will be an ample supply of feral young men in detention centers, jails, and prisons. Because that’s the world in which we live.
Art Deco
August 26th, 2015 @ 5:20 pm

You’re generally unaccountable for uttering gross falsehoods.
Dana
August 26th, 2015 @ 5:37 pm

Batcrap crazy.

How could the Charleston shootings have sent him over the edge when the (alleged) killer was caught the day after the attack, the day before Mr Flanagan bought his weapon?

And the reaction of the white community was one of complete support for the Charleston victims. There was no hesitation, because the victims weren’t wannabe thugs like Michael Brown.
Dana
August 26th, 2015 @ 5:40 pm

Mr 8 wrote:

Ever look at the school systems in their neighborhoods, and the woefully low rates of graduation?

so, now you are blaming the individual decision to drop out of school on someone other than the individual, right?
Daniel Freeman
August 26th, 2015 @ 5:52 pm

Uh, no, crazy people are the most susceptible to propaganda — like the incessant intersectional feminist propaganda against straights, whites, Christians and men. Expect more of this.
Jeanette Victoria
August 26th, 2015 @ 5:58 pm

Yes and yes I’ve spent a lot of time in Spanish Harlem and I grew up in LA……these ghettos are that way because of the scum that live there not because of racism.
Jeanette Victoria
August 26th, 2015 @ 6:02 pm

People who spew liberal lies are trolls. We have homosexual faking hate crimes and whites pretending to be blacks precisely because they ARE protected groups
Daniel Freeman
August 26th, 2015 @ 6:03 pm

I can picture it now…

Generic Wiccan: “I like to go to places of power, where ley lines cross, and do what I can to heal the ones that have been tainted by black magic.”

Bryce Williams: “RAAAAACIST!!!”
Evi L. Bloggerlady
August 26th, 2015 @ 6:08 pm

Gay men hate pretty girls.
Bob Belvedere
August 26th, 2015 @ 6:11 pm

I would say it’s the very essence of being a Leftist.

You have to be a little off to be a Utopian.
Bob Belvedere
August 26th, 2015 @ 6:12 pm

In other words: he was ripe for recruitment by the Left.
Jeanette Victoria
August 26th, 2015 @ 6:18 pm

Especially when liberal propaganda pushes that being a Gay and/or Black “victim” makes one morally superior.
Jeanette Victoria
August 26th, 2015 @ 6:20 pm

More than likely he got opportunities precisely because he was black.
RS
August 26th, 2015 @ 6:29 pm

All of the problems which you identify can be traced ultimately to the breakdown of the Black family, identified a long time ago by Pat Moynihan, together with the failed Great Society policies of Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat.

(And BTW, you might wish to check “per pupil spending” among school districts in various states to see which have the most resources. Inevitably, the most money goes to the least-achieving urban school systems. Yet the problems never disappear, they only get worse.
But teachers’ unions (wholly owned subsidiary of the Democrat Party) vilify and attempt to destroy any attempt to move kids to better schools in order to protect their sinecures.)
RKae
August 26th, 2015 @ 6:39 pm

Remember a year or two back when the astronomy term “black hole” was deemed racist?

There really is no bottom to this barrel.
RKae
August 26th, 2015 @ 6:42 pm

You know who’s over-represented in the prison system? Men. Men account for over 90-% of convicts.

Must be a conspiracy of females that keep it that way, huh?
DeadMessenger
August 26th, 2015 @ 6:52 pm

If a grown adult claims to be bullied, I think it might be time to give him or her a “wuss” sign.
Jeanette Victoria
August 26th, 2015 @ 6:52 pm

Yeah that is why police are getting assassinated regularly these days You really are an a depraved moron.
Jeanette Victoria
August 26th, 2015 @ 6:53 pm

Hey I get “bullied” all the time I have no need to go and shoot someone
concern00
August 26th, 2015 @ 7:06 pm

You get bullied for being a conservative, being a Christian, being short, being tall and sometimes simply for being. You even get bullied for being a gun-toting redneck, but ironically few of the latter will actually go crazy and shoot people for it.
Southern Air Pirate
August 26th, 2015 @ 7:08 pm

Update even more:
Media ignores manfesito and blames gun violence for causing this. Too many links to show from major national ones to international media sites.
mole
August 26th, 2015 @ 7:27 pm

Good point, even on the cesspools of the net I didnt see anyone cheer leading the asshole who shot those people in church.
(Ill exclude the stormfront type sites as Id never go there, so there might be a few)

This bloke is probably mentally ill/on drugs and has found a “narrative” in the silky lies of the left that its all white peoples fault.
DeadMessenger
August 26th, 2015 @ 7:42 pm

What, are you 16 or something? You obviously have a really skewed view of actual reality. Betting you come from an upper middle class suburban Democrat family.
DeadMessenger
August 26th, 2015 @ 7:45 pm

Yes, you do get bullied all the time, and yet you don’t use that fact to excuse away outrageous behavior on your part. I have to hand it to you, because I probably would’ve already shot someone by now.
RS
August 26th, 2015 @ 7:52 pm

Well, well, well . . . .

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/08/27/00/2BB0A5B300000578-3212142-image-m-24_1440630863316.jpg
LoneSage
August 26th, 2015 @ 7:57 pm

Driver 8 your statement proves you to be a Liar and a Troll. While I don’t comment often I had to sign in to call you on bullshit.
PistolsForPandas
August 26th, 2015 @ 8:05 pm

Veddy, veddy interesh-ting…