Vester Lee Flanagan: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

[mfcorey1]

A disgruntled former employee of a Virginia TV station stalked and ambushed a news crew during a live interview Wednesday morning before opening fire, killing a reporter and photographer and wounding the woman being interviewed.

Vester Lee Flanagan II, 41, who went by the name Bryce Williams while working at the station, WDBJ, has been identified as the suspect. His name was initially reported as Lester Lee Flanagan.

Flanagan shot himself after being confronted by police, WHSV reports. He was taken to the hospital and died at about 1:25 p.m.

The gunman opened fire during a live interview with a member of the local Chamber of Commerce. Cameraman Adam Ward, 27, and reporter Alison Parker, 23, of WDBJ 7 TV, were killed. The woman being interviewed, Vicki Gardner, was also shot and wounded, the Roanoke Times reports. She is in surgery after being shot in the back. Gardner is the executive director at the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce.

He was later confronted by police in Fauquier County, about three hours away from where the shooting occurred.

Here’s what you need to know:

http://heavy.com/news/2015/08/lester-lee-flanagan-flanighan-flanigan-wdbj-tv-disgruntled-employee-virginia-shooting-suspect-cameraman-photos-video-chase-gun-gunman-arrested/

[blm]

1. Sounds like he needed mental health attention.

.

[hifiguy]

2. And how.

Scary.

[blm]

4. Sounds like he had SERIOUS mental health issues.

He is all over the place with his 'reasons' and his 'admiration'.

But then, these shooters usually have unaddressed mental health issues.

Wouldn't be difficult for a person of color with mental health issues to have their paranoia triggered by mass shooting of blacks, now, would it? The promise of an upcoming 'race war' has been pushed by many a RW nut job on radio and the internet. Now some, like you, Mr Stoner, want to pretend that the trigger was the disturbed person's OWN racism and not the decades of 'race war' talk coming from the RW in this nation.

[artislife]

59. Yup nt

[pampango]

5. Dylann Roof wanted to start a race war. He failed but he incited one crazy man to kill 2 people. n/t

[blm]

12. Horsepoo. If you think BLM caused this man's mental health break then you

are showing yourself to be part of the overall problem.

[pampango]

13. "Likely spurred on by the BLM movement" Absent any evidence to that effect that sounds like RW

speculation. Pick a group you don't like and speculate that it is behind a murder.

[bullwinkle428]

15. Sounds like the talking points from Breitbart, WND, etc., have been issued.

"IT WAS ALL BLM'S FAULT, I TELLS YA!!1!"

[NuclearDem]

17. Oh please.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

22. Enjoy your stay, dude n/m

[uponit7771]

34. You SERIOUSLY think BLM spurred this guy one? tia

[Codeine]

42. Fuck you.

Imbecile.

[yardwork]

45. I haven't noticed anybody with the BLM movement urging shootings.

It sounds to me like you are looking for an excuse to blame this on BLM when there is no connection.

This man has a long history of being fired from jobs because of his behavior. Who knows what made him do this. He wasn't rational.

[suffragette]

46. He was disturbed. But you seem to have an agenda. And a bullshit one at that.

[uppityperson]

52. Link? Where does BLM advocate shooting people? Thanks for taking the time to back up your claims

[LanternWaste]

7. Sounds like the desired and irrational reaction Dylan Roof wanted

Sounds exactly like the desired and irrational reaction Dylan Roof wanted, except on an individual rather than collective measure.

However, you did get to call him racist, so no doubt you're satisfied.

[LanternWaste]

11. Rationalize it as you so feel.

Rationalize it as you so feel. However, pretending BLM is part and parcel of the cause is much more revealing of you than anyone else.

[Lizzie Poppet]

16. BLM isn't the cause...but the shooter WAS a racial bigot.

His own (insane) words make that abundantly clear.

[LanternWaste]

66. Post hoc ergo prompter hoc.

Post hoc ergo prompter hoc.

The go-to fallacy for people pretended to be clever.

[Lizzie Poppet]

68. Indeed. Apparently just because BLM exists...

...any violent act committed by black people that has socio-political connotations was "caused" by BLM.

Quibble Department: that's "propter."

[uponit7771]

33. Sounds like he had an issue with one person and not the people, I haven't read anything concerning..

... a people but I could be wrong

[dembotoz]

6. been sort of waithing for a shoe like this to drop for some time

how many blacks had to be shot before this?

[philosslayer]

14. Some people can only take so much.

[Ace Rothstein]

19. Blacks are overwhelmingly killed by other blacks.

Whites are also more likely to be killed by a black than a black is to be killed by a white.

[Maedhros]

32. You may want to read further - you appear to be absorbing and regurgitating a false narrative:

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2012/04/whiteonwhite_crime_it_goes_against_the_false_media_narrative.html

"Blacks today are nine times more likely to be killed by other blacks than by whites," Steele wrote. He went on to attack the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson for "exploiting" Trayvon's death in an effort to promote a "liberal" agenda -- a point that O'Reilly was all too happy to expound.

Steele's perspective, though myopic and misguided, remains pervasive and embedded in the broader social consciousness. This red-herring approach is not new, but in the face of Trayvon's death -- for which there remains no arrest, no charges and no arraignment -- these obstructive tactics require an equal and opposite response.

What Will, Steele and O'Reilly failed to mention is the exacting truth that white Americans are just as likely to be killed by other whites. According to Justice Department statistics (pdf), 84 percent of white people killed every year are killed by other whites.

In fact, all races share similar ratios. Yet there's no outrage or racialized debate about "white on white" violence. Instead, the myth and associated fear of "black on black" crime is sold as a legitimate, mainstream descriptive and becomes American status quo.

Here is the link to the Justice Department pdf: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf

Your assertion is just plain wrong.

[Ace Rothstein]

38. You should read my post again.

My assertion was that a white person is more likely to be murdered by a black person than a black person is to be mudered by a white person. I said nothing about blacks killing whites more frequently than whites killing whites. And my assertion is correct.

[Maedhros]

41. I'll need to see some evidence before I'll believe you. [n/t]

[Ace Rothstein]

44. See Figure 19 on the pdf you posted.

[Maedhros]

58. Fair enough - you are correct.

Bigger question: why is this important in this discussion?

[Ace Rothstein]

61. Did you see the post I was responding to?

I didn't bring it up out of the blue.

[Maedhros]

62. I did see that, and it was a real head-scratcher.[n/t]

[Ace Rothstein]

64. I'm not particularly concerned with the stats myself.

I feel like I've seen that same post here numerous times and felt compelled to respond.

[MisterP]

65. what?

[cigsandcoffee]

18. Being gay, he was probably not treated well by other black men.

African-American gays have a very rough time of things - black culture is far less accepting of homosexuality than the wider American culture.

Of course, that's no reason to shoot anyone, but it certainly makes sense about why he singled out black men in his manifesto. As to what he had against white women, nothing obvious there.

[REP]

20. Also seems he was raised Jehovah's Witness

JW is not a LGBTQ-friendly organization. I wonder if he had been defellowshipped (shunned), meaning his family and other JWs were forbidden to even speak to him.

[closeupready]

21. Where did you read he was gay?

??

[cigsandcoffee]

24. ABC Story

http://abcnews.go.com/US/shooting-alleged-gunman-details-grievances-suicide-notes/story?id=33336339


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

[closeupready]

27. This may seem pedantic, but 'he talks about how he was attacked for being a gay, black man'

is

1) ABC's assessment of the claims contained within the note; and

2) taken even at face value, every single man - whether gay, straight or bi - was likely 'attacked for being gay' during adolescence, and even into adulthood. And many hold resentment about those memories.

He was originally from the San Francisco area, allegedly, so who knows.

[cigsandcoffee]

30. Yes, that does seem pedantic. n/t

[yardwork]

48. The post contains valid points.

[cigsandcoffee]

55. I'm not seeing them. Also, he sued a TV station for anti-gay, anti-black discrimination.

Men who aren't gay usually don't do that.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3212142/The-human-tape-recorder-TV-murderer-criticized-bosses-appalling-journalistic-standards-reprimanded-wearing-Obama-badge-report-elections.html

[yardwork]

60. I'm saying that there's no evidence that he shot people because he's gay.

His long rambling manifesto appears to blame everything but the kitchen sink. There's no evidence that his victims teased him for being gay.

The post above makes the valid point that most gay men have been taunted for being gay, yet very, very few of them go on murderous rampages.

I don't think his being gay is particularly relevant. For that matter, I don't think his being black is all that relevant. I think the guy had severe mental health problems and looked for excuses to explode.

[AngryAmish]

51. Do we interrogate the Unibomber Manifesto like that?

Or Mein Kamph?

[yardwork]

47. He didn't shoot any black men, so I don't understand this speculation.

When a white man shoots people in bizarre acts of violence, everybody shrugs and says, "Lone crazy... Nothing we can do to prevent this."

If a woman or a black person or a gay person does it, everybody looks for reasons related to their identity. Why is that?

[mythology]

49. At this point it seems like his own words say that race had a significant role.

But there is a fairly small sample size on the number of non-white males who have committed mass shootings, so it's hard to find any sort of common factors.

[yardwork]

50. I'm refuting the suggestion that he was mad at black men.

I'm responding to a specific post that I think has unsupported speculation.

[cigsandcoffee]

54. It's in his fax manifesto. He said black men and white women "attacked" him. n/t

[yardwork]

63. He didn't kill any black men. I say again.

We will never know, but my personal opinion is that racism was just an excuse this guy came up with as a target for his own rage.

[closeupready]

23. Not reading anywhere at all that he was gay.

I AM seeing where ABC News is summarizing claims contained within his suicide note that he was subjected to anti-gay harassment.

Being a victim of anti-gay harassment is not exclusive to gay people. Thus, the assumption that he was gay is unfounded.

[REP]

25. He described himself as gay in his suicide manifesto

http://abcnews.go.com/US/shooting-alleged-gunman-details-grievances-suicide-notes/story?id=33336339

[closeupready]

28. No. ABC claims he complained about being 'attacked for being gay'.

Anyway, I'm sure it won't be long before we get a fuller picture, whether he was or wasn't.

[REP]

31. A "black, gay man" yes.

[Facility Inspector]

35. You seem unable to accept

that a gay black man can viciously murder two unarmed white people.

[closeupready]

36. In light of your low post count and 2 month old account?

[Facility Inspector]

37. Another low post count bigot, I see

why are you relegating me to 2nd class status because of that?

You had a low post count at one point, too.

[LanternWaste]

67. Less due to low count status and more due to Freudian slip showing...

"why are you relegating me to 2nd class status because of that?"

Less due to low count status and more due to Freudian slip showing...

[Facility Inspector]

69. Freud has been mostly discredited

but nice try.

[closeupready]

57. ignoring.

[cigsandcoffee]

26. He says he was attacked for being gay, but isn't gay? n/t

[closeupready]

29. See my response to you above.

[octoberlib]

39. Virginia gunman was told by TV station to seek medical attention, memos say

Vester Flanagan, the gunman who killed two journalists in Virginia, was told by his bosses to seek medical help after colleagues at the television station where he worked with his victims repeatedly complained about him, according to memos obtained by the Guardian.


Several flare-ups were detailed in internal messages from Dan Dennison, then the news director of WDBJ-7, that were sent to Flanagan and copied to senior colleagues. Flanagan on Wednesday morning shot dead reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward.

By then he had been told to contact employee assistance professionals at the company Health Advocate. “This is a mandatory referral requiring your compliance,” Dennison told Flanagan on 30 July 2012. “Failure to comply will result in termination of employment.”

Flanagan’s rapid downfall at WDBJ-7 is detailed in a series of candid memos obtained by the Guardian. Dennison, his boss, began sending internal messages about Flanagan’s behavior in May 2012, just two months after Flanagan began working at the station in southern Virginia. He appeared on screen under the name Bryce Williams.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/26/virginia-gunman-vester-flanagan-wdbj-2012-memos-medical-help

[ohheckyeah]

43. A previous coworker

of his said (on CNN) he was gay. He said he was a lousy worker and in his opinion jealous of the two he killed.

[alphafemale]

56. He was a reporter in Savannah, GA in the 90's.

Don't really remember much about him at all.

But that is an unusual name.

Station was WTOC.